From Edward, With Love
by Daddy C
Summary: Edward and Bella, from Freshman year to College. All human, let's see what happens.
1. Chapter 1: The New Girl

The High School Heartache diary's

Chapter 1: Black

**EPOV** – Edward's point of view

A new girl, seriously? We haven't had a new girl (or boy for that matter) in what . . . six years? I wish I could get a good look at her, but she's already got tons of girls just giggling around her. What is it with chicks? Can't they ever fucking do anything but giggle? And what's so God damn funny?

**BPOV** – Bella's point of view

First day at a new school, fun. Well, first day at a school for that matter. I've been homeschooled for the last nine years. I can't believe how much attention being new gets you. Everyone's already introduced themselves and practically handed me there liver. Much too friendly here. I guess that's what happens when you go from living in Phoenix to . . . Forks, Washington. I've never wanted to live in a place that describes itself with a 'rich history' or as being inhabited by 'established families' but hey, it has 'an exceptional school district'. Why am I here? Oh yes, my deranged father. Stupid air force.

--

First day here wasn't so bad, only a half day, just to get to know the teachers, (like everyone here doesn't know them from Adam and Eve,) and the subject. Thankfully I'd never taken these classes before, or it really would be hell. People finally quit staring, another God send. How exciting can one person be? I mean I know this is probably the most action they've seen since the sun came out, but it's not like I had three eyes or an extra arm or something.

--

Forks.

"So how was school today? Class must have been short." My mother said, slipping into the depression she'd been in since my dad made the decision to move here instead of Los Angeles. At least Los Angeles was big. Stupid dad, stupid air force. My mother had grown up all around the world, living in places like New York, Alaska, and freakin Germany. And now we live in Forks. Even the way it sounds pisses me off.

**EPOV**

First day back was short, thankfully. I still hadn't gotten a good look at the new girl, but there was something oddly peaceful about her. The way she practically glided down the hall, the way she gracefully took her seat in every class, (and I had seen her in every one of my classes). She was so polite, but awkward, and very quiet. Unbelievably quiet, especially for a girl. She answered everyone's fucking retarded questions, even though she probably didn't want to, fucking polite, they still stared, just not as noticeably as earlier, as if she was some fucking science project or some shit.

--

The first Monday back I got a good look at the new girl, whose name was Bella, I'd gathered that from football practice, stupid football pricks talking about her like she was a piece of meat. But why did I care? I didn't know this girl, she wasn't anything to me. Until I saw her face, and I know how shallow that sounds, but she was so, pretty? No she was prettier than pretty, but she wasn't beautiful, it was more of a way about her. She looked so out of place in the gym we all stood in before the first hour bell rang, standing next to all those girls who slathered their faces with as much shiny make up as they could get their hands on. She wore just a little bit, it didn't look like she was trying to dress up for anything, just wore it out of habit, her uniform clothes weren't tight, and that wasn't something I was used to, they fit a little big, but not baggy, this girl wasn't fat. She looked good, no anorexia bones sticking out, but no jelly rolls either. I wonder if she knew who I was yet.

**BPOV**

Monday, oh how I hated Monday's. How retarded that were all forced to mingle in the stinky gym before class, this was just painful, forcing a smile as girls I didn't know ran their hands through my hair and touched my jewelry and squealed. Like they'd never seen a bracelet before, I mentally snorted; I figured it wouldn't be very polite if I did it out loud. But really, is this what normal girls did? Talk about hair? How boring. I would have just gone and sat by myself and read a book, but I had a deep desire to fit in here. I had four years ahead of me with them, might as well make it as painless as possible. Even if that meant I had to listen to gossip and watch high school football games on my Friday nights. I had nothing else to do. . .

"Oh, my God" Jessica whispered in my ear like the teenage girl she was, "Edward Cullen is so totally staring at you!" This didn't really surprise me; everyone had been staring at me since I set foot in the building. But still, I had to ask.

"Um, who's Edward Cullen?"

"Only like the hottest guy in our class! He's on the football team, and the basketball team, oh and did I mention he's dreamy?" Jessica was clearly head over heels for Edward in that 'I'm in high school so there for I must seek out and drool over the hottest guy ever' or in Jessica's mind, the dreamiest guy ever.

"Ok, but where is he? Every one's staring at me; you'll have to point him out or something."

"Oh my God, I can't do that; he'd totally know we were talking about him! I can't just point at him, what are you retarded?"

Yeah, that's me, the social retard. The most public thing I'd ever done was go to church. Even in Phoenix I was pretty much a hermit, but that's what homeschooling does to you. I rolled my eyes at what Jessica had said about not pointing at him, so I just looked at everyone and tried to decide if they looked like an Edward or not. I had narrowed it down to two guys who were both subtly staring me down. One of them had glasses, medium height, a little on the heavy side, but not fat, he had curly blonde hair and he slouched a little. The other was a taller boy, a year or so older than me, bronze colored hair, and the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen, the ones you get lost in, he wasn't gawking at me, he merely looked curious, but not that 'extra arm' curious, more like he had an interesting question to ask me. It was refreshing. I stared back, and after a while, he shrugged and looked away, it almost seemed like he hadn't noticed I'd been staring straight back at him the whole time. But before I could think about it anymore, the bell rang and I grabbed my things and headed out the door to Physical Science.

The boy with the gorgeous green eyes that I had seen in the gym was in my class, which made my heart beat a little faster, I was mostly sure that was Edward Cullen, since Jessica had said he was in our class, and freshman took all their classes together.

Science went by in a blur; we were assigned our seats, (Edward sat on the other side of the room from me) and our books, which looked fairly new. The bell rang again, I'd have to get used to moving with the herd through the hallways to get to my locker, (which was only two down from Edward). Next class was Civics, and our class was joined with about three other sophomores who hadn't taken it there freshman year. I sat next to the two 10th grade girls Lauren and Angela, who just oozed popularity. The other upperclassman was incredibly tall, his name was Mike. He seemed very rude to everyone in the class, except for me, he simply smiled encouragingly at me. It made me smile behind the wall of hair I hid behind when I felt uncomfortable. Just like all the history classes I'd seen on those high school sitcoms, Civics was taught by a Coach, an old, ugly, incompetent coach. His name sounded like Earlobe to me, so that's what I called him, (in my head anyway, I would never be that rude to a teacher, even a coach teacher).

When we finally escaped from Civics, fairly unscathed I might add, I traveled with my class in a huddle down the too narrow hall way, I opened up my locker and dumped my civics book in it, and began to head to my next class when Jessica caught up with me and told me we had break now.

Break? Like recess? I thought that was a kindergarten thing, did I have to go and play on a playground for however long our break was? I almost panicked until Jessica steered me into the only new looking building that was the lunchroom. Oh, I get it, it was like snack time, everyone got chips or candy from the vending machine and sat down at their click's table. I opted out of getting anything, I was already fairly nervous about my first full day at school, no need to give my nausea something to do.

**EPOV**

Timid, shy, not quiet, because she laughed like the rest of us, she talked to her friend Jessica fairly easily, but if anyone else approached her or smiled at her or anything like that she retreated to the confines of her hair. That was cute, too cute. I had to get it through my head that she was just a girl, like the rest of them. Nothing special, I was acting like all those other pricks, staring at her like she was deformed. But she most definitely wasn't deformed. I still really couldn't tell if she was majorly pretty or not, and I hadn't sat close enough to her in class to hear her voice. This worried me, what if I had every class with her, but always sat at the opposite side of the room? I'd never have the chance to say hello or talk to her, get to know her, maybe ask her out or something. I rolled my eyes then, why was I so worried? It was crazy, she was just a girl. It was just the fact that she was the new girl; that was it. Even if I did end up liking her, she wouldn't like me, she was from Phoenix, a huge fucking place, she'd probably had tons of boyfriends before she came here, big town boyfriends, I could never compete with that. I was from a small town, and a quiet family history. Nothing interesting, no skeletons in my closet, not that I had ever thought of that as a bad thing, but now I was desperate for something, anything to set me above the other couple hundred guys that lived here, something that was different and would catch her attention. Was she into sports? Did she like jocks? What if she was the artsy type? Damn, I'd never taken so much as a piano lesson before. Maybe I'd go and buy a guitar after school. Chicks dig a guy with a guitar. Another eye roll, even if I got a guitar it's not like I could bring it up to school and play for her, how fucking embarrassing would that be? She didn't even know me. I didn't even know her. I had to do something, make an impression on her, and show her I could be just as cool as her God like boyfriends.

And just like that I was one of the last people still sitting in the lunchroom, like an idiot. What an impression, I hope Bella hadn't seen me. What if she had? Would she think I was deaf? Not even hearing the bell to go to class. Or would she think I was a bad ass? Clearly defying the school system and not getting up when the bell told us to. Ok, that's it; I was going to check myself into a psyche ward, I was definitely certifiable.

**BPOV**

Third hour already, computer, finally something I was decent at. It made me smile on the way to the computer lab that this hour would be a relief to me, like a safe harbor. I could listen to my iPod and do my lesson. I was assigned my computer and sat down, placing my things at my feet under the table. I had begun to reach for my iPod out of my pocket when my breath caught; Edward sat down at the computer to the left of mine. He was turned around in his chair, paying attention to the teacher, and I was staring at the back of his head like an idiot.

"Isabella Swan?"

The teacher called my name, and I jerked up in my seat, turning to face her, face slightly red at this point.

"Yes?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Yes ma'am?"

I really did need to get used to saying that, my parents had never required us to address them with yes ma'am or yes sir. If we were in trouble, we said yes mom, or yes dad. But I clearly couldn't say that to my computer teacher.

"Is there a problem?"

"No. . . Ma'am."

"Good, then if you would kindly sit up and pay attention."

I'd watched enough High School Musical type shows and movies to know that this was a generic thing that teacher said to put students who didn't pay attention to them in their place. Even so, I'd watched enough TV to know that there was also detention, so I sat up obediently and paid attention until she set us loose with our books to start on lesson 1 and 2; type up a letter and an envelope. How boring, how mundane, is this the school I'm going to?

**EPOV**

Ok, you can do this. Just tap her on the shoulder, introduce yourself, and maybe ask for some help. I was just about to, when I looked up and noticed she had headphones in, and was quickly starting and finishing the assignment. Crap, there goes that plan. I didn't want to intrude while she was like this, it would be kind of impolite. But who the hell cares, so I tapped her on the shoulder. She jerked up again, just like I'd seen her do from the corner of my eye when the teacher called on her earlier. She startled easy, that was for sure. Then she pulled out the headphones and smiled sweetly at me, I momentarily forgot what I was going to say to her.

"Um, uh, oh, hi, my names Edward Cullen, I just wanted to say hey since your new and all, and I figured it was hard getting to know everyone, so yeah, um hi I guess."

I was rambling like an idiot. No, I was rambling like a prick. Maybe I was. The worst thing was, she never said a word to me, and she just smiled up at me with her deep brown eyes. She thought I was a fucking idiot. Well, I guess I looked like a fucking idiot to her, stammering and shit like that, like I was going to have a heart attack or something. Then thank God, she nodded, so at least she heard and understood me, and maybe, just maybe didn't think I was a complete spaz. She turned back to her computer putting her headphones back in place, shit, I was losing her, and she hadn't even told me her name, so I did the first thing that popped into my head.

"Hey, um, I'm really lost," and I really was, "could you help me out?"

Yeah, if she didn't think I was an idiot before, she did now; I couldn't even type a letter.

"Yeah sure, just go to page 16, set the margins to 2 inches, set it to double space, and type away."

She should have added a _duh_ to the end of that, her eyes did, her giant, gorgeous brown eyes. I'm glad she didn't notice me staring. I already felt like an idiot, I couldn't afford to let her see me do anything else completely retarded like staring at her while she told me I was an idiot. But she would never call me an idiot, I already knew this girl wasn't like that, scary polite.

"Thanks, I guess if I paid a little attention and read the directions, I probably could have figured that out."

Oh no, did I just insult her for helping me? Shit, stupid, I mentally slapped myself; don't let it happen again Cullen. Focus, she's talking to you, focus!

"Well, I'm here if you need any help. I'm pretty good with computers, my dad works on them and stuff, but that's not what he does, he's in the air force."

**BPOV**

SHUT UP! SHUT UP! My mind was screaming at me, YOU'RE RAMBLING! STOP IT! I was making a complete idiot of myself, and he was staring at me like I was an alien.

"Oh, that's cool."

Then he turned and faced his computer, probably not wanting to talk to a freak like me anymore. We had fifteen minutes of class left, and they ticked by slowly. When the bell finally rang I grabbed my stuff as fast as I could and practically sprinted to the door. I bumped into Katelyn who standing just outside and we headed for Algebra together.

I was once again out of my element. Math and I don't get along very well. I'm pretty sure my mom had called the school earlier to let them know I was an idiot when it came to anything with numbers because the math teacher sat me right in the front, and I'm not sure if Heaven smiled or frowned on me, but I was sitting next to Edward again. I couldn't tell if I should be happy or upset about this since I couldn't tell if he liked me or if he thought I was mental.

I didn't say a word to him all hour; I just kept my head down, and my face hidden behind my hair. He looked at me a lot, not staring, just quick glances when he thought I was focused on my paper. Was this a good sign? I didn't have a clue, I'd never been around that many guys, except for my brother Jasper.

The sweet sound of the bell rang through my ears, waking me from my thoughts and worries about teenage boys and their unidentifiable minds. I looked for Jessica before I left the classroom, surprised I'd only had one class so far where I sat anywhere near her.

"Lunch?" I asked.

"You got it, did you order something?"

Order something? What the heck did that mean?

"Um, I don't think so. . . What do you mean?"

"Oh well, we have a set menu, and we right down on a card what we want to eat, then we turn it into the lunchroom and they make it! But if you didn't know what it was, then you probably didn't. Did you bring something to eat?"

"Um, no. I'm not that hungry though so it's ok."

Lunch was only 25 minutes long. I wasn't used to that, I like having a couple hours to eat lunch slowly and maybe watch TV or something.

English was my fifth hour class and I was happy again, I love English, and English loves me. The English teacher seemed to love me too. She didn't make me stand in front of the class and introduce myself, technically none of the teachers had asked me to do that, but you could see it in their eyes that it would be amusing to watch me stumble to the front and stammer out my name. Or maybe I was just completely paranoid, weirder things were true.

A groan escaped my lips as the end of English was announced by the bell; I had dreaded last our all day. PE, I had played softball, soccer, lacrosse, and ran track at my old home, but PE seemed cruel for some reason, and I was trying my hardest to think of a way to get out of it. In the end I just decided to hide in the locker room after the coach called roll and hoped to God he didn't notice I had disappeared. He didn't. Another God send.

**EPOV**

Where was she? I'd sat next to her in algebra, and seen her at her table in the lunch room, then English of course we sat at opposite ends, but I'd still seen her there too. Now it was the time of the day that I loved, something easy, PE. All I had to do was shoot hoops for an hour, no numbers, or grammar, nothing. A small part of me felt guilty for the other part of this class I was going to enjoy, a very small part. I had been looking forward to this all day, (well since I'd seen Bella this morning in the gym) because I'd get to see her in her PE outfit. But it looked like she wasn't taking this class or something; that sucked.

Another part of the day I loved, going home! I rode with my brother Emmet, a sophomore, home instead of riding the bus, plus me, Emmet and a couple guys from school played basketball at our house after school every day. When we got there I hopped out, and started warming up, we had been playing only about five minutes when I heard the bus pull up a few hundred feet away at its usual stop. Then, to my amazement and luck, Bella stepped off the bus and headed towards our house. What the hell was she doing? We all knew she lived a block or two away. Maybe she'd seen me and wanted to say hi, I hoped that was it, I hoped she felt comfortable enough to approach me, but I knew this girl better than that. She was too shy to do that, especially with a bunch of other guys surrounding me. Then the idiot in me burst out,

"BELLA!" I called her like she was a dog or something; I hoped she wouldn't get embarrassed.

"Um, yeah?" She called back, timidly.

"What are you doing?"

She's walking home you idiot, everyone around me seemed to say with their posture.

"Just headed home, having fun?"

Yeah, she wasn't an idiot; this girl didn't have to ask to know I was playing basketball with friends, like walking home should have been obvious to me, stupid. Get a hold of yourself Cullen, finish the conversation.

"Do you need a ride?"

Idiot again! YOU DON'T HAVE A WAY TO GET HER HOME!

"No, I'm good; I'm not too far from here, thanks anyway. I'll see you tomorrow."

She ended it, because she didn't want to talk to me. Or maybe she was just in a hurry to get home. I guess I'd never know. I prayed to God that night and asked him to help me not make a fool of myself tomorrow. For this girl, I wanted to be better.


	2. Chapter 2: Alien Planet and Guy Hugs

Chapter 2: Alien Planet and Guy Hugs

**EPOV**

Day two on the alien planet seemed to go by much the same as day one, though I'd decided on green nail polish for today since I was in alien territory. Today seemed like neon green kind of day. I was anxious to be at school, and anxious to be away from school at the same time. On one hand, I was literally pulling my hair out wanting to see Edwards beaming green eyes. On the other, Jessica was probably one of the most annoying girls I knew, along with Lauren, one of the 10th grade girls in my Civics class, though Angela, the other girl was polite and helpful. Mike still sent me evasive glances all throughout Civics, but it didn't bother me too much anymore. School was, for obvious reasons, unavoidable. It was a little different walking into the gym today, yesterday I was shy and standing awkwardly by myself, today I strolled in like I owned the place, taking a seat next to Jessica, (she may be annoying, but you don't pass up friends in a new school).

Just like I was hoping, I could see Edward glancing at me every few seconds out of the corner of my eye. It made my heart beat just a fraction of a second faster. While I glanced back at him, I started wondering what kind of girl Edward liked, I knew he was a jock, did he like sport girls? Or the Barbie doll, cheerleader type? I was neither, and started to panic, maybe I should start playing soccer or something. Then I realized how impossible it would be to go out with _Edward Cullen_ when the entire girl population, (and hey, maybe some of the guy's) was drooling over this guy.

"Hey Jessica," I prodded her in the ribs making her jump.

"What?"

"Does Edward have a girlfriend?" I knew she'd see this question for what it was, I was interested in him, but I felt safe asking since every girl loved him.

"No, that's what's so insane!" She said, her eyes lighting up at the mention of Edward, "I don't think he's ever had a girlfriend! Well, I'm sure he's had a girlfriend but, not that anyone knows about, I don't know, maybe I'll ask Emmett later . . ." She trailed off, lost in thought; she looked a little lustful as she thought of Edward's brother. I though it impossible that Emmett could be related to Edward let alone be his twin. They looked almost nothing alike, Edward was slim, but slightly muscular, and Emmett, well, he looked like a bear. Emmett had short cropped brown hair, lighter than Edward's, and even lighter brown eyes. Apparently Jessica thought Emmett was as dreamy as Edward, (they came from the same blood, so it made sense) that was fine; she could have Emmett as long as she stayed away from my Edward with those lustful eyes.

What was I thinking?! _My Edward?_ He wasn't mine, I didn't own him, _but I wanted too . . . _My brain just couldn't let this guy go. I mean I had known him all of three days; I didn't want him, did I? I did. Simple as that, I had to find some way to charm him, or whatever. I had no idea what I'd do, but I'd do something.

**EPOV**

There she was, just gracefully waltzing into our gym like she owned this place, she owned me. That was an impossible thought to get over, I didn't even really know her, and I was already drooling like a dog. I just had to keep telling myself she was just like all the other girls I had rejected at this school, superficial. Completely stuck up and conceited; only worried about the mirror attached to their hand. But even though I tried to convince myself that this was true, that she was just like them, I knew it wasn't true. She was so much better than them. All of them. Ok well, maybe there were a few girls I didn't hate, like that crazy Brandon girl and her funky hair. Then the bell rang, always cutting into my thought process.

The day just dragged by, like most do when it's still summer, with glances at Bella, and arguments in my head about whether or not to attempt a conversation with her. I always decided against it, for one reason she always had her face hidden behind a sheet of brown hair, and the other, she always seemed so content to just sit in silence and do her school work. She was completely peaceful as the rest of the room buzzed with conversations from hormone driven boys and girls.

**BPOV**

Gym already? Where had the day gone? I hated gym, and I'd only taken this class for one day, I hadn't even participated in it. I planned to do the same again, dress out, and show up for roll, then slip away unnoticed.

My plan worked just as well as it had yesterday. This was amazing; I thought for sure I'd get caught. Calmer now that I knew I wouldn't have to spend the next hour getting sweaty and gross trying to play sports I really didn't want to, I decided to get out some extra homework I had and do it now instead of wasting the perfectly free from school hours I had. I began unpacking my books when I noticed someone else in the locker room where I was hiding out. She was small, very small, with a child like face that was open and warm, she had short black hair the flipped out, she had the prettiest brown eyes I had ever seen. She stood up, brushed herself off, and began walking towards me. How had I not noticed this girl before?

"Hey, I'm Alice, and I know your Bella . . . Ditching?" She asked casually, like everyone did this all the time.

"Um, yeah, not a big fan of gym. You?" I felt oddly open around this girl, normally I was shy and awkward around people I'd never met or talked to before, but conversation came naturally here.

"Yeah me either. I skipped every day last year; no one cares as long as you don't make trouble."

Well there went my espionage career, here I was thinking I was amazing at sneaking around without being noticed when really they knew they just didn't care. Oh well, as long as I didn't have to play dodge ball, or whatever the sport of the day was.

"Well that's a relief." I said, rather dumbly, what had felt like easy conversation before quickly turned into an awkward silence that I couldn't bring myself to fill.

"So, how's being new treating you?" she asked politely.

"It's not for me; I don't like all the extra attention . . ."

"Yeah I know what you mean," she said, and I detected a note of sadness in her voice. Was she new as well? I doubted it, or everyone would be staring and talking about her too. This was the first time I'd even seen this girl, she definitely wasn't in my class.

**EPOV**

The bell to go home rang and I trotted off to the boy's locker room to change. I hadn't seen Bella again, and it made, I'm not sure what it made me feel, it kind of made me feel empty I guess. At least I was going home now, and I hadn't made an ass out of myself in front of Bella. Though she probably thought I was one for almost totally ignoring her all day. I just couldn't bring myself to look into her deep brown eyes, I was afraid that if I did I wouldn't be able to look away, they were just that gorgeous.

The same thing happened today as yesterday, I went home to play basketball with the guys until Bella stepped off the bus. As she got closer to my house, I started running towards her, I couldn't help it, I hadn't heard her voice all day and I was desperate for it. So I ran to her, like a fucking idiot, no, like a fucking puppy. But if that's what I had to be to get her, I'd be a fucking puppy.

"Hey Bella, what's up?"

"Oh you know the usual. How about you?"

"I'm great, just playing basketball with some friends, wanna join?" I felt like kicking myself after this, I bet she felt obligated to play now, and how fucking uncomfortable would that shit be? 'Hey guys, this is Bella, she wants to play too!' Idiot, idiot, idiot! Keep it together here Cullen. You can do this . . . No you can't.

"No thank you, unless you'd like me to die." She declined politely.

"What's the matter? Afraid of us big bad boys?" You. Are. An. Ass.

"Terrified, of my own feet that is."

"Oh, well, if you change your mind, you should come hang out or something. We'll be out here for hours."

"Um, ok. I might do that."

Even though she said this, I could see in her expression there was no way I was not going to see this girl again before school the next day.

**BPOV**

He was so nice. _Mental kick. _Don't you dare swoon. Yeah, so what, he was nice. So was my cat. And I didn't try undressing my cat with my eyes. I hated to admit that that was what I was doing while he was asking me to play basketball with him. Silly boy. Stupid uncoordinated feet. I had to get home, if only to hide myself and my stupid flaming red face. I always blushed to easily, it annoyed me. It was like a big stamp across my face that read like an announcement to everybody that I got embarrassed easily.

I finally, and as politely as possible, excused myself, giving him the excuse that my mom would be worried. And I suppose she might be, if she wasn't too depressed to notice I wasn't home yet.

"Oh, well that's cool, but like I said, you should come back and hang out with us."

"Sure, I'll keep that in mind, but I really have to go now."

This was getting more awkward than I wanted it too, then he bent down and gave me a swift hug with one arm just around my shoulder.

**EPOV**

Holy shit! What the fuck did I just do? Did I seriously just guy hug Bella? I would never hear the end of it from Emmett, I swear to God, if he didn't see that I was the luckiest idiot in the world. I turned and stalked off, not wanting to see the more than likely horrified look on this girls face. Did I really do that? No, I couldn't possibly have just done that.

"Did you just guy hug that girl?"

Shit, Emmett saw that. I knew I wasn't that lucky.

"Nope, figment of your imagination. Maybe you should get some sleep."

Emmett frowned, like he really was considering the possibility of sleep deprivation. How had I ever been born into this family, with the same genetics as this big fucking idiot? I remembered the silent prayer I had sent up yesterday, and cursed God for not following through with it. I had just labeled myself as the creepy stalker neighbor. Way to go Cullen, this girl may never talk to you again and will more than likely stay as far the fuck away from you as possible. I can't say I blamed her, I would too. Maybe I was a stalker; the only thing I hadn't done was peek into her window or drive circles around her house in the middle of the night. That would probably come later.

**BPOV**

I walked away stunned. He hugged me. What did that mean? Did he like me? Surely not, it was barely a hug, nothing sweet, just a 'well I'll see you later' type gesture. But still, if I told Jessica that Edward freaking Cullen had hugged me, she'd more than likely be compelled to rip my head off in a fit of jealousy. I couldn't blame her; I'd do the same thing if I were in her situation. Good thing I wasn't, I smirked as I thought to myself. That was it, I was telling Jessica in the morning, head be damned.

I couldn't wait for school tomorrow, I was anxious to see if his timid hug would translate into something else, something more . . . Anything more.


	3. Chapter 3: First Kiss

Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and its characters, and as a matter of fact, my soul.

* * *

Chapter 3: First Kiss

**BPOV**

It was computer, the day after Edward's awkward sideways hug. He looked pained, like all day he had wanted to tell me something important, but couldn't bring himself to do it. I felt bad; I should have just broken the silence and said something, than the awkwardness might be gone. But I didn't, I just sat there like a coward and hoped he would finally open his mouth and say something. He would start to say something, then snap his mouth shut, or turn his body a little to face me, but then shift back into his seat. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I heard him whisper my name, my face began to lift towards his, but he wasn't looking at me. Staring straight at his computer but not typing or moving at all, he whispered my name again, softer this time,

"Yes?" I breathed, as silent as possible.

But without answering his head suddenly jerked up, and as gently as possible, he pulled me towards him and into his arms, he grabbed my face and kissed me! I was stunned, to stunned to kiss back at first, but then I began to tilt my head into his, matching the pressure of his lips with my own.

"Wake up Bella, you're late for school!" My mother shook me exasperated.

Most vivid and realistic dream ever.

--

"HE DID WHAT?" Jessica shrieked. We were in the gym before class and I had told her about my hug with Edward Cullen.

"Yeah, he just ran up to me while I was on my way home, we started talking, and when I told him I had to get home, he hugged me and walked away!" I purposely left out the fact that it barely counted as a hug since he only used one arm and it lasted about an eight of a second.

"What kind of hug?"

"I don't know . . . A hug type of hug," I snickered at her absurd question.

"Wow, that's completely, wow. I don't know what to say. So what are you going to do?"

What did she mean? Did I need to do something now? "What?"

"Well, he made the first move, now it's your turn."

I didn't know if it was really my turn or not, and I couldn't ask Jessica because she didn't know the specifics of my hug with _Edward freaking Cullen._ I almost blushed just thinking his name. I chanced a glance in his direction and a satisfied grin fluttered across my lips. He was staring at me, I was always shocked at how that affected me, him looking . . . At me.

**EPOV**

"HE DID WHAT?" Jessica Stanley shrieked, everyone in the gym stopped to look at her. Crazy bitch, what was she yelling about?

That's when I saw Bella, blushing and standing with her. She must have told her about the semi-hug. I was almost embarrassed, I hadn't mentioned to her about how Stanley had practically stalked me since sixth grade. Popping up wherever I was, going out of her way to say hi to me, always watching me . . . Dear God, I think I just described what I do to Bella. I felt sick; I was stalking her, what would I do now? I'd ignore her, stop staring, stop yelling at her as she crossed my lawn, stop looking for her in the crowded gym, stop, stop, stop. I started to run my hands through my hair, something I did when I was thinking, or frustrated, or happy, or pretty much anything else. I began to scan the gym for Bella's face again, I suddenly froze, don't look. This was going to be harder than I thought. Maybe I'd start ignoring her tomorrow, or the next day. Ok, this was insane. I couldn't just ignore her, but, I decided I would only talk to her if she talked to me. And maybe I'd quit running at her like an idiot every day after school, just to say hi. Yeah, that made sense, I didn't have to completely shut her out, just maybe cut back a little so I wouldn't come off so stalker like.

The day went by slowly and painfully. I had to force myself not to look up from my work the whole time, every time someone mentioned Bella, or called her name, or I heard her giggle, I just put my head down lower. PE was the easiest class, now that I had found out from Brandon that Bella skipped that class every day. I guess she wasn't much for sports. That was fine, as long as she didn't have anything against guys who played sports.

**BPOV**

PE was soon becoming my favorite class, simply because I could sit and do homework while chatting with Alice and still make an A in the class. But I looked forward to the end of school more than anything, Edward would come running as I crossed his lawn, his hair moving in the wind, when he stopped to say hello, he always ran his hands through it, compulsively. I wanted to do it too.

He didn't come running, he didn't say hello, I just kept walking, slowing a little in front of his house, but he never came. Maybe he was just caught up in the game . . . That was it. That had to be it, because I didn't want to admit to myself that he might not want to talk to me. He sure had avoided me pretty thoroughly at school. But I'm sure he had a lot on his mind. Starting school after being away for three months can be hard, I knew because I was doing the same thing.

--

At home, in my room, listening to music and doing something with my hands was where and when I felt the safest. No matter where I lived, who was there, or what has happening. If I was busy, I was fine. Charlie and Renee, my beloved parents, were fighting, an unnatural occurrence that always scared me. My mom had been married before, to a man named Phil, but when he found out that I was coming along he panicked and they filed for divorce. I can't say I blame him, because if I was having a kid, I'd panic too. Not long after the divorce, mom met Charlie and knew, somehow, that she was irrevocably in love with him. So they got married, the day after I was born, Renee was vain enough to wait till I was out of her stomach to get her wedding pictures taken. So I went to stay with Charlie's brother, my Uncle Billy and Cousin Jacob during the honeymoon period. Seven months later, Jasper was prematurely born. Renee got a hysterectomy after that. I loved Charlie, and although I was quite comfortable calling him dad, since he had been since I was a day old, I often called him Charlie, just for fun.

Jasper was my life. I loved him more than most sisters loved their little brothers. But I couldn't help it. When you grow up, moving from one place to the next, never keeping friends for long, you tend to grow close to the one person you always have. He was my best friend, and I was his. I loved the closeness we shared, and the memories we had together.

**EPOV**

"Emmett you ass," I said, not disguising the disgust for him in my voice. I never needed a reason to say these words to him, because it was true, Emmett was an ass. So at my comment, he just snickered, he knew it was true as well. I was always hard on Emmett, because deep down I knew he was all I had. And I was all he had, well for now anyway. My father was about to remarry, to a woman named Esme Brandon, my own mother Tanya, walked out on us five years ago. Esme had a daughter in my grade, Alice, Alice Brandon and her freaky hair. I was happy for my father, Carlisle, I was happy for him because he was happy, and even though I could be an ass every now and then just like Emmett, I wasn't upset with him because he was remarrying. I was surprised it took him so long, both Emmett and I had been considering finding him a new wife ourselves if he didn't get to it fast enough.

**BPOV**

"So what were the fireworks for?" I asked, not trying to pry into my mother's personal life, but not being able to forget the fight they had just had.

"Charlie's going out of town again," she said, getting depressed again. I smiled at my mother's depression; it satisfied all my questions about her loyalty towards Charlie. I never worried about Renee cheating on him, because the evidence of her love for him was always written on her face, or the tears in her eyes. Trying to make her feel a little better, I bent down and gave her a hug, whispering a soft, but sincere 'I love you' in her ear, then escaping to the secure walls of my room to finish some homework.

--

The rest of the week went by rather quickly. Through the rest of the week, Edward never looked up from his work, never stared at me in the gym, never said a word to me during computer, and sadly, not even the smallest of waves from him after school while he played basketball with his friends.

I was about to get as depressed as my mother, over a guy I couldn't say I knew.

**EPOV**

It was killing me; I guess I knew now that she didn't like me. If she did, then it would have been hard for her to ignore me the way I was ignoring her. She didn't seem to mind at all, just kept on doing the same thing from one day to the next. Had she not noticed that I had completely stopped talking to her? I guess I hadn't made that great of an impression on her.

"So what's your deal? Did I offend you or something?" Bella said in a slightly hurt tone. We were sitting in computer doing our assignment in silence. I suppressed a snicker as I wondered how long it had taken her to get up the courage to say that to me. Or maybe it was natural, maybe I didn't give this girl enough credit, she probably wasn't as timid as I made her out to be in my thoughts.

"What do you mean?" I asked as politely as possible.

"Well one day you're talking to me and . . . hugging me," she almost choked on the word, which did nothing for my ego, "and the next you completely ignore me, I was just wondering if this was your normal behavior, for future references."

I liked that last part, a bit of sarcasm, she was witty, hilariously so. I laughed at what she said, and decided I would take a chance and tell her the truth, well, part of the truth. The part I wasn't embarrassed to let her know about.

"Well, I thought about my behavior the other day, and decided I was acting more like a stalker than a good neighbor."

She giggled, and the sound was heavenly. Oh how I'd missed the sound of her giggle, her anything for that matter, she could have sneezed and it would have the same affect on me. I had finally decided she wasn't what I thought she was. She wasn't like the other girls here, I knew it then and I know it now. There was no point in trying to persuade myself I didn't like her. Every time I did that I ended up looking more and more like the stalker I didn't want to be. Then again, who wants to be a stalker? Well, I guess stalkers want to be stalkers.

"I thought you were being a good neighbor, no one else has been as friendly as you." She said, turning a delicate shade of pink. Was she flirting with me?

"Well, except for Jessica," she continued, turning back to her computer to catch up on the assignment she had been ignoring to talk to me, "She's been . . . friendly." I didn't like the way she said the last word, almost painfully. It made me wonder what that crazy Stanley bitch was saying to Bella. Whatever it was I didn't like it. I tried to distract myself by changing the subject.

"So, how's Forks life treating you?" I honestly wanted to know the answer, but then when her smile fell a little I immediately regretted it.

"Its fine I guess. A little rough on my mom, it's worse for her because Charlie, I mean my dad's always away on business trips."

The way she addressed her dad, using his first name made me wonder. But I pushed it to the back of my mind, making a mental note to bring it up later, maybe when the two of us knew each other a little more. I decided after that, that I wouldn't bring up her Fork's life again, not for a little while anyway.

"So, are you going to talk to me again after school?"

Her question caught me off guard, since when was Bella so outgoing? Granted I had only known this girl for a week, but still, she usually just hid behind her hair and giggled, and although she wasn't asking anything risqué or revealing, it was still surprised me. I liked it.

"If that's what you want." I said, turning to her and smiling.

"No way pal, it's not about what I want," she answered with her own smile.

"Then I guess we'll just have to wait and see." With that, I turned fully to my computer and finished the class in silence. Though I had been cryptic, I knew I would turn into her puppy the second I saw her step off the bus.

* * *

Woohoo! Another chapter down. I shocked myself with this one, I don't usually post so many chapters this quickly.

Please review! I LOVE that you guys are reading, but it would be great to have a little feedback, (if I'm not asking too much) just to see what you like, don't like, that kind of thing. Thanks for reading!

Reviews are better than dreams of kissing Edward . . . Oh who am I kidding? No there not.


	4. Chapter 4: Football Practice

First off, my love to those of you who are reading! I hope you like it! Sorry for taking so long on this one, I'm kind of vacationing in San Antonio, so, here goes another chapter.

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Chapter 4: Football Practice

**EPOV**

Though a lot of us had been weight lifting, football practice hadn't really started, until today. I almost didn't go, just so I could be at home when Bella stepped off the bus. I felt like I was disappointing her by not being there to run and say hello. But I couldn't, if I did, then I'd want to do it every day, and that would be bad. I'd eventually be kicked off the football team. That wouldn't go over very well with dear old daddy. I had to find some way out of football; I hated the sport, why should I be made to play it? I was already playing basketball, what more could the man ask of me? I mean really, were sports really that important to him? Wasn't education a much more important thing? He was a doctor for fuck's sake. Surely he would let me cut football out of my life, and maybe make a little more room for Bella? I would certainly have to talk to Carlisle about this when he got back from San Diego, where he was attending a conference.

Football ended, and I was headed home. My favorite part of the day (for two reasons) was when we all went to the back yard to play basketball. Reason one was obvious, I saw Bella everyday if I did this, reason two was a little less obvious, even though Emmett was an ass, I did enjoy spending some time with him. This was our brotherly bonding. The whole time I was playing I couldn't help but glance up every time I heard a car, or a door slam, and I could have sworn I heard her name once or twice. I was literally going nuts over this girl; I could be fine with that if it was true, which was a good thing because it probably was true.

Practice again, where had the day gone? I didn't even really remember seeing Bella at school, had she skipped? No, I distinctly remember seeing her smile at me as we walked into the gym (which was the only time I saw her during last hour, that and when we walked out after dressing back into our uniforms). I hated when days went by like that, I liked enjoying seeing Bella during our classes, and between them.

"Bella's ass looked so good in those jeans today," Mike fucking Newton said to some of his arrogant jock friends, my head immediately shot up at the mention of Bella's name (and ass, I was disappointed at not being able to see if for myself). Practice hadn't begun yet, so Mike's cronies were gathered around him while he said the most explicit things about Bella and what he would do to her given the chance. I was just about to tear his head off when I apparently caught someone's eye and they made a comment on how angry I looked.

"I mean Cullen, I've never seen you look that way, dude, you alright?"

"Fine," I spat back, not caring how it sounded, and not even knowing who I was saying it to. I jogged towards the head coach and told him I had to leave practice right away, he agreed only because I told him I would run extra penalty laps for missing practice. I then proceeded to persuade Emmett to leave practice as well, though it was much harder to get him to agree, he wasn't much for penalty laps, but it's not like I could walk home. After much negotiating, and a lighter wallet, I climbed into Emmett's massive jeep and was headed home. I wasn't thinking clearly, I just knew I had to get away from Mike Newton before I got suspended or expelled. When we got to the house, I went directly to the basketball court in our backyard, picked up the ball and started shooting hoops. That's when I heard it, a cough, a very small unidentifiable cough, it shook me from my thoughts long enough to realize that I had probably beaten the bus home. I looked up, not even hoping to see Bella, because I knew if I did I would be disappointed, and I wasn't in the mood to be disappointed.

It was her, she looked different though, she wasn't wearing uniform clothing, so I jogged over to her to see what was up.

"Hey, what's with the jeans and t-shirt? You know we have a dress code and uniform," I couldn't help but chuckle at my own stupidity, man did I sound witty.

"Yeah but didn't you hear about the charity or whatever?" I shook my head, what in the world was she talking about?

"Um, yeah, you bring five dollars and you get to wear normal clothes!" Why hadn't I heard about it? I was certainly glad Bella had paid attention. God damn, those jeans, as much as I hated to admit it, Mike Newton was right, though I preferred her legs, and how thin they were, I'd never noticed since she wore baggy uniform pants. I really needed to stop staring at her legs and ass; it wasn't good on my part. I really needed to stop staring . . . STOP STARING!

My eyes snapped back up to her deep chocolate brown eyes. I attempted at small talk, and failed because all I could think of was Mike Newton seeing Bella in those jeans and the things he said he wanted to do to her. I was growing more and more frustrated as the conversation moved on. I had to do something that showed her I really cared about her, something that if I did, Mike Newton would back the fuck off, something I could do to show her I was superior to Mike fucking Newton. So as I started to say goodbye, I bent down and gave her a real hug, I swallowed her in my arms and rocked us back and forth for a few seconds before I let her go, not really wanting to, but knowing I had to in order to remain un creepy. I said goodbye and walked off towards the basketball court, probably leaving her totally confused.

**BPO V**

Wow, what was that? Where did it come from? Don't get me wrong, I wasn't about to turn down a perfectly perfect hug from Edward freaking Cullen! I couldn't wait to get to school the next day to set things straight and explain the different hugs to Jessica. I could now because he had actually given me a real hug! Not some half hearted sideways one that didn't mean anything. That one definitely meant something; I just couldn't tell exactly what it meant.

School was, bizarre. That's the only way I know how to describe it. Edward smiled at me more, he walked with me to some of my classes, he didn't say anything but he did walk with me, sort of; it was more like he walked behind me. He stared at me all throughout lunch and break. It confused me, but I didn't mind because any attention was better than him ignoring me. Jessica noticed all too soon that he was looking at me a lot more than normal. I couldn't stop thinking about the hug I'd gotten from Edward. I still couldn't comprehend that he had done that. Then I got an awful thought, maybe he hadn't meant too, maybe it was just a weird reflex, or maybe he hugged everybody. I had no idea; maybe I'd ask him after school today on my way home. That is, if I could get up the courage to do so. I didn't have to, because when I stepped off the bus he wasn't there. I held my breath and kept walking, hoping he was just maybe at the other end of yard or sitting down or something . . .

He wasn't there; he wasn't there the next day, or for the rest of the week.

**EPOV**

I felt like a dick, I felt like I was abandoning her, I was a jerk. But I couldn't skip every football practice, well I could since I no longer wanted to be on the team, but I would never be able to convince Emmett to skip. He still wanted to be there, around people like Mike fucking Newton and get hit in the balls. I could be doing better things, like hugging Bella. But I went to practice, for the rest of the week, and I cursed myself for doing this. I missed Bella. I missed our two minute conversations and her awkward giggles. I still couldn't believe how choked up I was getting about one fucking girl. But I guess this wasn't a fucking girl, it was Isabella Swan.

Carlisle had finally returned from his business trip and I was quick to bombard him, hoping he would be tired enough from the trip to just immediately agree to anything I asked him.

"Um, dad," I never actually called him Carlisle, well I had once when I was eight, only because I wanted to sound cool, but really I just sounded like a stupid eight year old.

"Yes Edward?" His weary eyes looking up to meet mine.

"Well, you see, I think my grades are slipping, (always best to throw grades in when parents are involved) and I think it's because I'm pushing myself to much, I was wondering if I would cut football."

"Edward, you should do whatever you think is best for you, if you think your grades are suffering because of your extracurricular activities then you should reconsider them, and figure out what your priorities are."

My priority was Bella, though I would never in a million years have said that to Carlisle. Not then any way.

"Thanks dad, I just wanted to check with you first before I did anything school related." Best to make him think he was still calling the shots, though I knew if he had said no to cutting football, I just would have skipped practice and acted up till I was kicked off the team.

It was the weekend, which means I still wouldn't get to see Bella, not for a whole thirty six more hours. I couldn't believe I was counting down hours. Then the thought hit me, I lived in a small town, she lived in the same small town, and even though it would be completely inappropriate if I showed up at her house unannounced and uninvited, she still might do something around the town, like go to a convenience store or put gas in her parents car, something like that, and if she did then I might get to see her and say hi, maybe give her another hug. What was this shit? I was getting excited at the possibility of seeing a girl I'd know for a few weeks and hugging her, seriously, what had gotten into me?

I took Emmett's jeep out, (even though I wasn't quite old enough to drive it legally, not that anybody cared or would notice) and wandered around Forks not knowing how I would find her, and then how I would explain how I had found her. I was just driving around when suddenly I impulsively turned into a small store I couldn't remember ever going to. I shut off the jeep and stepped out of it, not know exactly what to do, I headed for the door, I could see someone else on the other side of the door so I held it open for them,

"Edward?" It was Bella's soft voice that came from the other side of the door. My head snapped up, and a smiled a rather crooked and I'm sure devious looking smile at her.

"Bella," was all I said. It was all I could say, I was so shocked that my hair brained scheme had worked! And I was elated at seeing Bella.

"What are you doing here?" She asked a little suspiciously, as if she was the only one that could go out.

"Oh, you know," I said thinking as quickly as possible, without breaking into a sweat and getting caught, "picking up some stuff from the store . . ." I finished as casually as I could possibly manage in my current condition.

"Oh, um, ok, well don't let me distract you . . ." She said it like she was hurt, but she didn't have anything to be hurt about.

"Hey I'm in no hurry . . ." We were really stretching for things to say to each other, she didn't seem like she wanted to end the conversation, I didn't want to end it either. Then suddenly, without thinking, or maybe I just wasn't controlling that part of me that filtered what I thought and what I said, "You should come hang out at my place sometime."

Idiot, couldn't I ever control myself around her?

**BPOV**

I had to say, after the hug, I wasn't completely shocked that he asked me to hang out with him, but the thought of being a clumsy idiot around him for more than five minutes scared me, I wanted desperately to be able to say yes, but I had to . . .

"I'm sorry, I really can't right now, I'm pretty busy," I lifted up the groceries I was carrying like they were somehow driving me to say no to him. His face fell noticeably, and his next statement stung me just a little, "Oh," He said "Ok, well I'll just hang out with some other friends."  
I guess I didn't mean as much to him as I was imaging I did. I was stupid to think I ever did, could, or would.

"Oh, sounds like fun." Now I sounded hurt, I couldn't help it, I was.

**EPOV**

I had hurt her, I could tell, I hated myself for doing it, but my pride took a hit when she said she didn't want to spend time with me. But now that I thought about it, she never said she didn't want to spend time with me, just that she was too busy at the moment to do so. I felt better, but again, that part of my brain that keeps my mouth shut while I'm thinking wasn't working at the moment, "can I give you a ride home?" I tried to save myself, or at least make myself look like a gentleman, "It's the least I could do." I always heard people say that, and it seemed to work on all the dames in old movies.

"Sure," she said, with a smile that lit up her entire face. I lead her to the door of Emmett's jeep and opened it for her, like a perfect gentleman. This was easier than I thought. After I opened the door for her, she just kind of stood there for a few seconds then looked back at me bemused. "You're kidding, right?"

"What is it?" I was kind of shocked.

"You realize I'm more than a foot shorter than you and Emmett right?" And suddenly it hit me and I understood. I took the bags of groceries from her hands and set them on the floor in front of the passenger side seat. Then I held her hand, grabbed her as gently as possible around the waist and helped lift her into the jeep. Without saying anything I stepped onto the side of the jeep and helped buckle her in, I was enjoying helping her, so I let my hands linger a little longer than necessary on the buckles of the seat belt before jumping down to shut her door for her.

**BPOV**

He must have been insane if he thought I was about to hike up Mt. Everest just to catch a ride home. Then without warning, he grabbed the things I had been holding, picked me up, and put me in the seat, so natural, like he had done this everyday for years. I began to wonder how many other girls he had helped into his brother's jeep. I tried to push that thought to the back of my head and enjoy the time I had with Edward, still cursing myself for having to turn down his earlier offer.

**EPOV**

I was quite happy with myself, I had been a gentleman in helping her up into the jeep, and I had gotten to hold her in my arms, if even only for the briefest moment. I jogged to the other side of the jeep and hopped in. "So, where are we headed?" I asked in a curious tone, knowing full well where her house was.

"Oh, I don't know, can we just ride around for a bit? I'm not in too much of a hurry to get back home." She put an emphasis on the 'too'. My eyes lit up, I was getting more than I had bargained for, and she did want to spend time with me. Since she didn't want to go home yet, I decided to take her home the extremely long way, giving us a good twenty to thirty minutes alone, just the two of us, god that sounded good.

"Sure, sounds good to me. So," I asked in a quizzical tone,"why the sudden desire to hop in a car with a stranger? _And_ endanger your life for that matter?" I asked, hoping I wasn't coming off to strong and scaring her.

"Oh, you know me, just living on the edge. Plus my mom's all moody because Char, I mean my dad's out of town." My interest was piqued, there it was again, she had started to use his name instead of just calling him dad, I had been so straight forward already I didn't feel that bad about asking her about it.

"So what the deal with you calling him Charlie all the time instead of dad," I said, getting straight to the point.

"He's really my step dad, he's been my step dad since I was a day old, and I've never had trouble calling him dad before, but ever since I went and visited my . . . biological dad," she seemed to have trouble saying real dad like most people would, "I haven't been able to, I don't know why, he is my real dad, as far as real dad's go."

She seemed to get a little choked up; I didn't want her to start crying, although the thought of stopping the car and holding her while she cried was greatly appealing, I didn't want to put her through that, so I quickly changed the subject.

"So, are you getting a long ok with everyone at school?" I couldn't believe I was asking about school, it was second only to the weather, and I would ask her about that next if the subject fell flat too quickly.

"Oh you know some people are friendlier than others." She sounded a bit standoffish, but I had to press her, just to make sure she was alright at school and I didn't need to kick someone's ass to make things easier for her.

"You mean like Jessica Stanley?" I was hoping she meant Jessica Stanley, I knew the girl could be quite the bitch, but it was better than any of the guys giving her a hard time.

"No, actually, I meant Mike Newton."

I slammed on the breaks, "NEWTON?" I roared looking at her furiously. She jumped in her seat and put her back as close to the door as possible.

"Um, yeah," she started in a squeaky mouse like voice, "he um, called me this morning and asked me out."

NO! No, no, fucking no. It was too late; Newton was already going out with her. How could that scumbag do that? Ask out the girl I had my eye on? He was a fucking ass, how could Bella not see this?

"So," I said through gritted teeth, trying not to frighten her anymore, "when's the big day?" I couldn't bring myself to ask any more details than that, if I did I would be in serious danger of exploding.

"Oh, I told him no, he's really not my type."

I paused, evaluating what she had just said to me, making sure what I heard was what she really said. She had told me she wasn't going out with him, that was a huge plus, she had also told me he wasn't her type, possibly another plus, but that could also be bad because Newton was a jock, and technically so was I. I let out a sigh of relief; I couldn't help it with news like that. I started the jeep back up, it had stalled when I slammed on the breaks.

"Are you alright?" I asked, hoping I hadn't hurt her.

"I'm fine, just a little curious at your reaction." Damn, I knew I would have to explain my actions, I just had no idea what I would say, and I had been hoping for just a little more time to gather together a story. I decided to give her the part of the truth that I could.

"Newton's an ass, and to think of you with him makes me sick." It came out much harsher than I had meant for it too, but it got the point across, I hoped.

"Oh, well, he's always been really nice to me." She said with a small smile, was she really defending him? I thought she turned him down.

"I'm sure he is, when he really needs to be." I hated him more and more as the seconds ticked by. I desperately need a subject change.

"So, how do you like the weather?"

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Sorry the chapters are so short, I promise you longer ones when I have more time! I have so much planned for this story it's hard to write the fluff before the angst. But, it's coming, and I'm excited :]

Reviews are as good as Edward driving you home in Emmett's jeep.


	5. Chapter 5: Edward's Birthday

Someone brought up that they didn't know how old Bella and Edward were, just to set things straight, in the first chapter Bella mentions how freshman have all their classes together. So, their freshman, but just for fun, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 5: Edwards Birthday

**EPOV**

I hated Emmett, probably more now than I ever had before.

"But dude, it's the big sixteen! You gotta party!" Emmett was trying to persuade me to let him throw me a party for my birthday, what was I, four?

"I'll even invite the new girl, Bella." He said with a smirk. I froze, how did he know?

"How . . ." I began shocked, but I couldn't complete the sentence, or the thought for that matter.

"It's pretty freakin obvious you like her, that stunt you pulled the other day getting out of football practice? I saw right threw it, I knew you were doing it just to see her."

Emmett was right, and wrong. I hadn't in fact gotten out of practice to see her; that was just an added bonus. I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with Emmett of all people. He may be related to me but he was as thick as cement, only slightly more mobile. On one hand, I would hate Emmett for being able to hold a party over my head for more than likely the rest of my life, on the other, he was giving me a good excuse for being with Bella for more than a few minutes. I guess if Emmett promised to not go overboard, I'd let him.

"Ok Emmett, you win." I said quite reluctantly, but I couldn't get over the fact that Bella would be in my house, for hours at a time, and since she didn't seem to mind me, maybe we could be together the whole time, maybe. I really hoped so.

"YES! I knew throwing in the Swan girl would work!" Unjustified anger flashed threw me as Emmett punched the air in victory.

"She has a proper name Emmett, I'd rather you not address her as the Swan girl, her name is Bella, and you had better remember that for the future."

"Touchy touchy, calm down little bro," he walked off before I could realize what I said to him, the anger that burned through me, if even only for a few seconds shocked me. Could I get that upset just because Emmett called her 'the Swan girl'? Knowing Emmett, he could have said something MUCH worse about her. That was just completely un-called for; I guess I was getting a little touchy.

--

The party was a complete nightmare, utterly terrifying quite honestly. Rap music was blaring at a heart stopping volume, lights were flashing, and our house was so completely packed, I couldn't believe this many people actually lived in Forks. Upon hearing that Carlisle would be gone away on a business trip during my birthday, I suddenly realized why Emmett was so interested in me and my birthday; they were convenient to him and his party. This wasn't for me at all; if it had been then there would be decent music and far fewer people. But, by some miracle, Bella had shown up looking drop dead gorgeous, making my jaw drop to the floor, and apparently Mike Newton's as well since he hadn't left her alone the whole night. He just followed her wherever she went and tried to talk to her, she had clearly been trying to give him the slip all night. My ego had taken another hit when she didn't immediately seek me out when she arrived, so I figured I'd leave her to the evil of Mike Newton for a while before I saved her. Another way I could tell this was more a party for Emmett was that besides a handful of people from my class, I didn't know anybody here, and the booze, my god the stuff was everywhere.

I was in such a bad mood that I grabbed a bottle of tequila and one of vodka, a shot glass and made my way through the crowd to my room. I opened the door only to find five hundred more people dancing and making out all over my stuff, disgusted I just slammed the door and headed to the second story, there had to be a bathroom or something that wasn't plastered with people. Lucky more me that was the only room no one was in, the upstairs bathroom. I felt pretty ridiculous being forced to hide in my own bathroom with a couple bottles of alcohol. Oh well, it was better than facing the rejections from Bella. As soon as I thought her name, the door flew open before I had the chance to lock it, and Bella's frantic eyes were staring at me, she was shocked at first, the she quickly slipped in and shut the door, "HELP ME," she breathed. I moved past her and locked the door; I turned back to her, smiled, grabbed her hand, the shot glass, and the tequila and went to sit the both of us down in the bathtub. She giggled, it was a beautiful sound.

"Wanna drink?" I asked with the biggest smile I could manage.

"Um, I'm not a big drinker, but, since you saved me I guess I could give it a shot."

"You're not too good with peer pressure apparently," I rolled my eyes at her jokingly.

"Well, I'd like to think I give _everything_ a shot, at least once." She put such an emphasis on everything that I couldn't help but think (or hope) that she was talking about me.

"Let's get started then!" I was too excited at the thought of being locked in a bathroom with Isabella Swan for hours. I opened the tequila first, poured a shot, and gulped it down as fast as possible, grimacing and shaking my head at the taste.

"Alright, your turn," I said with a wicked smile, I poured another shot and handed her the glass, "you ready for this?" She shook her head, but she took the shot anyway, doing the same as me, but looking like she wanted to spit it out before she swallowed.

"Just drink it Bella, don't think." She finally swallowed. How she could hold it in her mouth without gagging for that long was beyond me.

"That was disgusting, how can you drink that?" She shrieked, but she was smiling while she did it.

"Well," I explained with a goofy grin on my face, "you're not supposed to just sit there with it in your mouth; you drink it as fast as you can." I was laughing at this point.

"Ugh, let's not do that anymore, ok?"

"Come on Bella! Just try it again, I promise it gets better the more you drink, but this time just swallow it, ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, just hand me the bottle." She didn't look pleased with me, and I started to feel bad, I felt like I was forcing this on her. But she grabbed the bottle from me, poured a shot, and downed it like a pro, still grimacing, but at least she swallowed it this time.

"Better?" I asked, honestly curious to see if she was up for another shot. She didn't say anything, her lips were puckered, and her eyes shut tightly, "are you ok?" She looked like she was in pain and I started to worry about her. Before I knew it she was pouring another shot and downing it just like the last. After that she opened her eyes and smiled.

"It's getting easier, now it's your turn." She handed both the bottle and the glass to me, and not wanting to be out done I took three shots before handing it back.

"So that's how it's going to be, huh?" She asked eyeing me suspiciously. She didn't even bother with the shot glass this time, putting the bottle to her lips and taking a long swig. Now I really was outdone, so I grabbed the vodka I had brought, opened it up, took a shot, and then poured her one.

--

Two wonderful, alcohol induced hours later, we were shit faced, slurring our words, and laughing about everything the other said. It was then, sitting in the bathtub of the locked upstairs bathroom, while Emmett's rap music still blared at two in the morning, I let everyone of my secrets spill.

"You know, I've liked you since the first day you came here." I announced, looking proud and not really having a reason to be.

"Is that so?" She asked, bobbing her head up and down in approval. "You know," she continued, "I've liked you since the second day I came here." She said, and neither of us could control our laughter at the obviously unfunny thing she had just said. The words she was saying weren't registering in my head anymore, she was just moving her lips, and nothing was coming out. Then suddenly a banging at the door stopped our laughter, and we both shot up.

"EDWARD?" Emmett yelled.

"What the fuck do you want?" I screamed back, it sounded pretty weak, but I didn't care.

"What the hell are you doing in there? Get your ass out here and help me clean up, parties over."

"We'll do it in the morning Em, leave us alone."

"US? Who's in there?"

"Me and Jill, **(for those of you who don't know, go to Urban Dictionary and type in Jill. It's pretty hilarious, considering my name is in fact Jill.)** Now beat off," I would have said anything to get him to leave me alone.

"Go fuck yourself." He said as he stormed off, at least he was gone.

"Come on Bella," I said shaking her slightly, even though she was awake, her eyes were completely glazed over, "we've got to get you home."

"No," she whined, "I don't want to!" She was so cute scrunching her eyes up and half ass fighting me off. But I knew better, with my luck her parents were the extremely strict type and would kill both Bella and I, if she didn't come home.

"Bella come on, you have to go home before your parents flip out and call the cops on me." I was starting to panic, she wasn't getting up, and I couldn't drag her home, which would just look awful on my part.

"Said, staying with Alice, night long, sleep." She mumbled, I couldn't really understood what she said, all I caught was Alice's name, so I pulled out my phone and dialed her number.

"What?" A very sleepy and unhappy voice greeted me.

"Alice? It's Edward, was Bella Swan supposed to stay with you tonight after the party?"

"Yeah, but when I left I couldn't find her anywhere, and she didn't answer her phone, so I figured she went home early or something."

"You didn't call her house, or her parents did you?"

"No, why? Is she ok?" Panic began to rise in her voice.

"She's fine, she's here with me, I think I'm just going to have her stay here tonight, and then I'll bring her to your place in the morning, sound ok?" I needed Alice to be ok with that, I was in no condition to drive and Emmett was probably already passed out somewhere downstairs.

"Sure sure," she agreed without hesitation, "whatever you want, can I go to sleep now?" She sounded relieved at first, but now that she knew Bella was in no danger, she sounded annoyed at my intrusion.

"Ok Bella, let's go, you're not going home, you're going to stay with me tonight, do you think you can get up?"

"Mmhmm," was all she could manage to mumble. With her eyes shut, she started to lift herself, but then fell back and started laughing.

"Come on Bella, we have to get you out of the bathroom." I half lifted her, half dragged her out of the bathtub, and out the door. We carefully as possible, made our way slowly and steadily down the stairs, taking them one at a time. When we reached the bottom of the stair case I saw Emmett, passed out on the couch, so much for getting things cleaned up. My room was not too far off now, so I grabbed Bella and lifted her bridal style and finished carrying her to my room. Once inside, I set her down on my bed and tucked her in. Opting to sleep on the leather couch I had in my room across from my bed. She didn't fuss, or say anything for that matter, and a few moments later I heard her steady breathing and knew she was asleep; I set an alarm on my phone for ten a.m. and drifted off to sleep myself.

**BPOV**

What in the world was wrong with me? I had no idea where I was, what was going on, and why couldn't I remember anything? I tried to sit up, I had been lying in a bed that wasn't mine, and this scared me. I started to breath faster and could tell a panic attack was about to begin.

"Whoa, Bella don't freak out, are you alright?"

At this, my eyes shot open and the light from the wide windows almost blinded me. Where was I? My eyes began to focus and I saw none other than Edward Cullen sitting on a black leather sofa only a few feet away from me. What? I looked around the room, it was full of shelves with books and CD's, in the corner was a stereo, and next to the couch a reading lamp. I could only assume I was in his room, but why would I be in his room? I tried to think back, I remembered going to Alice's house to get ready for the party she was dragging me too, she had forced me into a skimpy outfit and then done my hair and makeup, I remembered arguing with her about not wanting to look like a prostitute, and then her shoving me into her car, ending the conversation with an unfair statement of 'you'll do this or I won't be your friend anymore'. I knew she was bluffing but when Alice starts to pout, no one is safe. So I reluctantly came. I began to replay the night in my head, the bits I could remember anyway. We had shown up, walked in, and Alice abandoned me. I faintly recalled Mike Newton walking up to me and saying the cheesiest pick up line I'd ever heard, though sadly, I couldn't remember it now, something about being at a grocery store and getting checked out . . .

"Bella?" Edward Cullen was still there, "Bella, are you alright?" At this I realized I was clutching my head, and it felt like it was about to explode. What now?

"What . . . " I trailed off; I clutched my head again before trying once more, "what happened?" My head was throbbing so hard it felt like I'd been hit with an anvil, I was surprised I didn't see those little stars circling my head like on cartoons.

"Well Bella, you came to my party last night, and in an attempt to hide from Mike Newton, you came across me in the upstairs bathroom, we locked the door and started drinking." He smiled weakly; I suppose hoping I didn't regret everything. I faintly remembered stumbling into a bathroom that just happened to be the one Edward Cullen had been hiding in, and then the butterfly's that assaulted my stomach when he brushed past me to lock the door, trapping me in there with him. Then, of all things, he grabbed my hand and led me to the bathtub, so many things went through my head that shouldn't have that I had to remind myself that we were in house full of people and we barely knew each other. Then it hit me, I had gotten drunk last night, but that's as far as I could remember, just the fact that we sat in a bathtub for half the night drinking tequila and vodka, things I would gladly never drink again.

"Is that why my head feels like you ran it over with your brother's jeep?" I knew it was the reason, but I needed to say something to Edward, and 'thanks for letting me crash in your bed while you slept on a probably uncomfortable couch all night' seemed like a strange thing to say, although I couldn't deny it was probably pretty honest.

"Well, yeah, you've never been drunk I take it. Let me get you some Aspirin and a glass of water, then Emmett is going to take you to Alice's house, ok? Just stay there for now."

I sat obediently while the wave of panic hit me, I was supposed to have gone home with Alice last night, and I was supposed to be waking up with a hangover in her room, in her bed, next to a hung over Alice. Not sitting in the ridiculously low cut jeans, and impossibly tight blue shirt she made me wear, in Edward's room. How had I gotten here? I almost didn't care, I did however do something that, if caught, I would die of shame, I brought the soft white comforter I slept under all night to my face and smelled the most wonderful scent I ever would. Edward.

He appeared back in the room holding a bottle of Aspirin and a glass of water just as I was putting his blanket down and turning to sit on the edge of his bed. He came and sat next to me, handing me some pills to take, but I was too worried to take them right away.

"I was supposed to go home with Alice last night," I said blankly, staring at him with an expressionless face.

"I took care of all of that last night, I called her and told her no one was able to take you over there so Emmett would drive you over in the morning, calm down Bella, it's all taken care of."

"Do my parents know?" If Charlie found out about this, I would be buried alive in the backyard.

"Of course not, I made sure no one called them while you were here or told them anything, don't worry Bella, I'll take care of you."

The last few words really hit me, they almost made me cry, he was so gentle, and it was the sweetest thing anyone had said to me.

"Come on Bella, Emmett's up and I told him he needs to take you over to Alice's, so he's ready to go, I have to stay and clean up the house before Carlisle get's home." He grabbed my hand and led me out the door, I tried my hardest not to think about what I looked like after sleeping drunk all night. If my headache told me anything, then I probably didn't want to see my face.

--

The ride with Emmett was in mostly comfortable silence, neither of us feeling the need to fill in the silent gaps with useless chatter. Honestly he was probably just as hung over as I was and didn't want to have to listen to anything.

We got to Alice's at about half past ten in the morning. Emmett hopped out of the jeep and I did the same, landing unsteadily on her driveway. Emmett walked over to Alice who was waiting for me, she didn't look upset thankfully, and she talked animatedly to Emmett for a second before reaching up on her tippy toes to give him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. This shocked me, before the thought came to me, surely someone like Emmett would have a girlfriend, Alice must be it, she just never bothered to mention.

"See you around Bella," Emmett called as he climbed back into his jeep and threw it in reverse, heading home.

"So," I said turning to Alice, "you and Emmett Cullen huh? How long has that been going on?" I had to know all the details, I felt a little hurt that she had never mentioned the fact that they were an item.

"Emmett is my step brother," she said with a giggle, "well at least, he's about to be."

I was stunned, what? Apparently my face was saying what my mouth couldn't, because Alice continued, "their dad, and my mom. They've been going out for a while, ever since Emmett and Edward's mom ran out on them a few years back."

Wow, I really wasn't expecting that one.

**EPOV**

God, the house was ruined. Emmett sure knew how to throw a party, and he sure knew how to get out of cleaning up after one. This wasn't the first time I'd had to clean up his messes. At least this one was worth it. I was so fucking tired, but I didn't care. I'd spent most of the night dozing, waking up every now and then to look at Bella curled up in _my_ bed, under _my_ covers. I had fought the impulse to wander over to the bed and crawl in with her, snuggle up behind her and sleep with my arm wrapped protectively around her. If I did that though, I would never want to let go. The best I could do was give her a quick hug and help her climb into Emmett's jeep. I wished I could have been able to go with her, but Carlisle would be home in a few hours, and would be extremely disappointed in Emmett and me if he came home to the house looking like this. The house literally looked like it had gotten shit faced last night like the rest of us.

I got my iPod from my room and got to work, throwing out all the empty bottles and paper cups, straightening up the tables and chairs that had gotten turned over in the night. After the living room was back to normal, I went to the kitchen to find it in worse condition than the living room. I threw as much out as I could then set out to do the mountain of dishes Emmett and I always accumulate when Carlisle is away on business. Next on the list were the bathrooms, I purposefully left the upstairs bathroom till last, I don't know why I did this, but I did, almost hoping Bella would pop in while I was cleaning it.

The house was spotless after only a few hours of hard labor, just the way it should look to Carlisle when he comes home from business. Emmett and I were his perfect children, or so he thought. Sadly, the partying days would come to an end; Carlisle and Esme were getting married soon, which would mean Esme would be our dear old mommy, and would be home a lot more then Carlisle. Since all the cleaning was done, I decided to turn in early, which would probably arouse suspicion from Carlisle, but I didn't really care. I crawled into bed and smelled my pillow, it smelled like flowers and rain. It smelled like Bella.


	6. Chapter 6: He Said She Said

Twilight, not mine.

Twilight, Stephanie Meyer's.

* * *

Chapter 6: He said, she said

**BPOV**

It had been two weeks since Edward's party, (though I seriously doubted the party had been for Edward) we hadn't spoken, we hadn't looked at each other, or made any sort of contact whatsoever in that two weeks. I swear, one second he shows an interest in me and the next? He's either ignoring me or checking someone else out! All week I had to endure Jessica's whines about how Edward was flirting with some girl I didn't know, Erin Teague, I think was what her name was, but I wasn't paying attention, or that's what I was telling myself anyway. Erin was my enemy, and I have to say, I would have liked her under other circumstances; she seemed nice enough, but now? She was shamelessly flirting with _my_ _Edward!_ Ok, he wasn't mine, but still! What was he pulling? Flirting with some other girl? I was almost tempted to walk up to Erin and tell her not to waste her time, I at least had spent the night with him, I remembered with a grin. Was he trying to make me jealous? Not only was it working, but it also gave me permission to play dirty. If he could flirt with Erin Teague than that gave me the right to take Mike Newton up on his offer to go to Seattle this weekend on a _date._ I knew Edward and Mike were on the football team together, until I remembered that Edward had told me he cut football a few weeks back when we were still talking. Shoot, maybe I could just brag about going out with Mike Newton to Jessica sometime in a class where Edward sat close to me. It was so petty that I was planning this, planning to do this to him, but if he was going to do it to me, well, I wasn't just going to sit here and take it!

I walked straight up to Mike, knowing that Edward, (thank goodness) was in earshot, it would make making me and Mike **(eek, sorry for all the M's) **official a little easier on me, if he heard first hand that we were going out I wouldn't have to shout about it in class.

"Mike," I said as sweetly and seductively as possible, but still trying to be loud enough for Edward, who was only a few feet away, to hear me. I looked up at Mike through my eyelashes, with a small smile playing on my lips, though on the inside I was disgusted with myself for doing this, all the while my mind was shrieking at me to just turn around.

"What's up Bells?" He said smiling genuinely, poor guy; if Edward wasn't around I might have honestly considered him. Despite what Edward had said about him, he was just jealous anyway. No, that wasn't true; Edward didn't have anything to be jealous about.

"Well, I was just wondering if your offer for this weekend was still good, you know. Go to Seattle on that date?" I hoped to God it wasn't, prayed it wasn't, I was making silent deals with myself to get out of going with Mike Newton this weekend.

"Of course," he said smiling the biggest smile and showing all of slightly yellowing teeth.

Crap.

**EPOV**

What the fuck? Fuck no, NO, fuck . . . What? NO! Fuck this. These were the only things going through my head when I heard Bella talking to Mike about going to Seattle this weekend for their _date_. What was she thinking, simple, she wasn't. Hadn't I told her how vile Newton was? I had, what the hell was she thinking? How could she do this to me? Was she trying to prove some idiotic point? She had to be, no one in their right mind would purposefully go out with Mike FUCKING Newton. I hated that guy, more now than ever before. I hated everything about him, the thing I hated the most was the fact that _he_ would get to go on a _real_ date with Bella before _me_. I should be the one taking her to Seattle Saturday. But now, Mike Newton gets to, that piece of shit excuse for a person. The things he had said about Bella, the things he wanted to do, I couldn't let that happen. I had to do something, maybe I could convince her to go out with me instead. That's it; I would talk to her today in computer and ask her out for this Saturday, that's it, that's it.

Third hour came, and went, without a sound from me. Why had I chosen NOW to be a pussy when it came to talking to Bella? This was what I had to do, persuade her out of going with Mike to Seattle. I had to. But that part of me, the ego consumed part, was telling me to just let her go out with him, serves her right for choosing a hormone driven child over me.

It was the last few minutes of gym; Bella had reappeared from the locker room and was talking to Jessica Stanley, probably about her upcoming weekend date with _it_, I just couldn't bring myself to even think about his name. The bell rang and I sprinted past everyone to get to Emmett's jeep. The ride home was dull fully quiet. The one day I could actually use Emmett's ear splitting rap, he apparently had a headache. Figures.

I was home, shooting hoops, when I heard Bella walking by, I almost did what I had been doing for the last few weeks, ignore her as she walked by. But this was my second chance; I could run up to her and talk to her about her weekend.

"Bella!" I called her attention to me so she couldn't walk off before I got the chance to say something to her.

"So you're talking to me again?" I was sick of this question, though I suppose she had a right to ask. But seriously, I obviously was.

"I was wondering," I was trying, and failing, at stalling. I wish I had thought of something to say, just standing here for five minutes saying um, wasn't going to cut it; she would soon lose interest and leave.

"Well, Bella, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out this weekend, as friends, maybe go see a movie get something to eat?" It came out weaker than I wanted, but, I had said it.

Her face looked completely blank, that turned into frustration, before she finally said "well, I already have plans to go out on a date with Mike Newton, maybe you and Erin Teague could tag along for a double date or something next time. I think me and Mike are going to go to Seattle this weekend and . . . Get to know each other."

The words she said almost gave me a heart attack. I did however, stop breathing. I shook my head and turned around, leaving her without as much as a goodbye. Walking back to the basketball court, something she said hit me, the part about doubling with her and me taking Erin Teague. Was she serious? Was this what she was doing? Going out with Mike Newton to get back at me for talking to Erin Teague? Wow, that explains it. If that was really what she was doing, and I wasn't acting like a paranoid ex-boyfriend/stalker. I wanted to run back to her, spin her around, swallow her in a hug and kiss the lips I'd been staring at longing to kiss for months. But I couldn't. The ego part of me flared up and was determined to make her crack first, make her come running to me after her awful weekend away with Mike where they would 'get to know each other'. Bella didn't know what she was getting herself into, but she would soon find out.

**BPOV**

I couldn't BELIEVE I had just refused a date with Edward Cullen, even if it was just as friends. How could I be so stupid? I knew why I was doing it of course; I wanted to see him squirm. Wanted _him_ to be the one to break down and come running to me. It's how it had to be. If he was going to sit there and flirt with Erin in front of me, then I would let him wonder what Mike and I were up too all the way in Seattle for a whole weekend. As awful as it seemed, I was having a little fun. Until, of course, I reminded myself how I had declined a date with Edward _freaking_ Cullen. I would never forgive myself.

**EPOV**

I prayed that the weekend wouldn't come. That some sort of tragedy would occur that would postpone the coming weekend. Though of course, that was ridiculous, and so was I. The only thing I could do was listen in on Mikes conversations to determine whether or not he was as vile as he was a few days ago. He was, no shock there. It wasn't like I had expected him to suddenly become the perfect gentleman Bella deserved, overnight. Bella really did deserve a gentleman, and I was determined to give that too her, if she would just let me.

**BPOV**

It was the weekend, and I was horrified that I would now have to go through with what I had asked for. This was going to be a wonderful weekend, I thought sarcastically. Why can't I just crawl under a rock until Mike forgets that we had a date? It could work, he probably wasn't that smart. Just as I was contemplating my escape routes, the doorbell rang. I knew it wasn't Mike yet, but it was the other thing, or person, that I was dreading today, _Alice_.

Alice had volunteered to come over and do my hair and makeup, and help pick out a cute outfit. Honestly, I wanted to look as ugly as possible on our date today, but Alice wouldn't have that.

Once I was successfully dressed and primped, Mike arrived promptly at five in the afternoon to pick me up and take me out to dinner and a movie. I opened the door to find a nicely dressed Mike Newton, holding a bouquet of roses.

"Here," he smiled, "I got these for you, though there nowhere near as pretty as you." I could tell he was being completely honest; his eyes were like an open book, so they weren't too hard to read, even for me. I was flattered, and a little confused. Mike seemed pretty sweet, and harmless. What was Edward talking about? I took the flowers with a thank you, and set them in some water. On the way out, he greeted my dad with a handshake and a 'how are you doing Sir?' then my mom with a 'now I know where Bella get's her looks!' I didn't buy it, but he was just being polite. He opened the door for me when we left the house, the hurried to help me into the car as well. I was growing more and more confused as the date went on. All through the movie, he kept his hands to himself, not once trying the arm over the shoulder bit that I hated. After the movie, he took me to a nice restaurant; he asked me questions about my family, and friends, about the places I had lived before Forks, about hobbies, and sports I liked, about the places I missed and the friends I was making at Forks High.

By the end of the night, I was amazed. And honestly, a little taken. Mike had been a perfect gentleman the entire time, and when he walked me to the door I thought everything was about to change. That he would suddenly become all those things Edward had accused him of being. But all he did was lean down and give me a sweet but short kiss on the cheek.

**EPOV**

"Alice, COME ON!" I knew I shouldn't be bugging her, that I should just leave her alone, and find out everything on Monday. But I was desperate, and going crazy hulled up in my room while Bella was off in Seattle somewhere, and Mike was doing who knew what to her.

"Edward, I'm telling you, Bella told me he was a perfect gentleman the ENTIRE time, opened doors for her and everything, just like in the movies." I could tell Alice was getting frustrated with me, honestly I was frustrated with myself. But I had to know everything. Absolutely everything, no matter what the gory details were.

"Did . . . " I couldn't finish, didn't want to finish, had to if I wanted an honest answer out of Alice, "he didn't" but still, I could bring myself to ask, because I didn't want to hear the answer, but knew I wouldn't be able to rest until I did. So again, I tried, just spitting it out "did he try anything on her?"

"Bella said Mike walked her to the door then gave her a kiss on the cheek. Watched her walk into the house, then he went back to his car and left. Can I get on with my life now? Or would you like to know what they were wearing?"

It didn't make sense, but I thanked Alice anyway, and apologized for grilling her and making her mad. She didn't say much but goodbye before hanging up. Could Alice really have been telling the truth? Could Mike really have been that polite and nice to Bella all night? Not laying a finger on her, except to kiss her goodnight. Honestly, the kiss thing bugged the fuck out of me. It wasn't fair, and I planned on never letting it happen again. I wanted Bella to belong to me, and if I had to murder Mike to have her, I would.

I tried to make sense of the things that had happened. Bella had agreed to go out with Mike, she had refused to go out with me, she had had a good time out with Mike, and he had been nice and charming and all that shit a girl wants, but, were they going out again? Alice hadn't mentioned that, and I knew better than to call her again and ask. I would just have to wait.

--

Sunday was unusually depressing and uneventful. The ego side of me, which came around a lot more ever since Bella had shown up in Forks, took me over and I decided to ask Erin Teague out for a date. Give Bella a taste of her own medicine. God, I was acting like a child, but at this point, I didn't care anymore, not one bit. Even though our date hadn't been planned like Mike and Bella's, I knew Erin and Jessica talked a lot, and surely Erin would tell Jessica, and Jessica would tell the rest of the school, and that included Bella.

The whole thing wasn't as bad as I had expected. I picked Erin up around six, and headed for Seattle, there really wasn't anything to do nightlife wise in Forks. Everything is pretty much closed on the weekends, unless of course you want to go fishing down at the res or something.

I took Erin out to see a movie, where I let her hide in my jacket at the scary parts, and held her hand as she cried while the hero died tragically to save the woman he loved. I wished desperately that it was Bella who was scared and hiding in my chest, or Bella who needed to be comforted as she cried during the sad parts of any movie. Erin and I headed for a pizza place afterwards, and sat and ate chatting about school and other unimportant things for about an hour before we decided it was time to head back.

Thankful that the night was over, but decided it wasn't a waste, Erin could be a good friend, but probably nothing more, especially since I had imagined her as Bella the entire time in Seattle.

**BPOV**

It was the Monday after my date with Mike; I was done filling Jessica in on all the details of my weekend when all of a sudden Alice crashed into me, whispered something in my ear, and dragged me off to the bathroom, leaving a thoroughly confused Jessica behind.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I wanted to say this face to face. Edward went out with Erin Sunday, after he grilled me about your date with Mike."

I froze, rooted to the spot. Ok, I tried to calm myself down, it's not like I didn't expect him to do that, especially when I turned him down (you idiot). So this isn't really that big of a deal. Breath, breath, talk to Alice.

"Did he have a good time?" It was all I could manage to choke out without panicking.

"Bella, he went out on a date with someone this weekend! Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?"

"Yeah, yeah I know what you said, but, it's not like there married now. Are they a couple? Is it official?" I couldn't keep the concern from my voice now, because I was too worried to care.

"No, they just had one date, Emmett told me, that Edward told him, that they wouldn't go out again, he had fun, but she's not right for him."

Relief, sweet relief.

"So what do I do?"

"Act like you had the best time ever, and no one could possibly be any better than Mike Newton."

She was crazy, no one would believe that.

**EPOV**

We were sitting in math class, the one class where I sit right by Bella, but I've never talked to her in this class. I could however listen to the whole irritating conversation she was holding with Jessica Stanley, who just happened to sit on the other side of the room.

"Oh my God, he took you there? Was the food amazing?"

"It was! And he was such a great guy the entire time! He opened the door for me, pulled out my chair, the works!" Bella was too excited, and it was seriously pissing me off.

"Wow, so what about afterwards, you know, when he drove you home?"

"Well, when we got back to my house, he kissed me! And, oh my gosh Jessica, it was so sweet and cute, I can't believe how lucky I am!"

"So, are you going out with him again?"

"Mmhmm, he called me last night and said he had a great time, and that we should go out again! I think we're going out again Wednesday night."

WHAT?! Alice hadn't said anything about that! This was getting out of hand, Bella was supposed to be with ME. Not fucking Mike Newton. Then it hit me, homecoming. I would ask her to homecoming before Newton got the chance. Homecoming, good plan, I just have to stick to it, just stick to it.

This girl was going to be the death of me.

* * *

Erin Teague is a character from Midnight Sun, I'm not sure about the other Twilight books. I chose Erin because, well, she's just that cool.

Just a little heads up, I'm changing the name of the story, I really don't like the current title. At the end of the next chapter, I'll tell you what the new title is.


	7. Chapter 7: Shining Armor

I know Twilight is Stephanie Meyers; you don't have to rub it in.

Everyone is going to hate me at the end of this chapter, but I have to do it.

I almost hate myself for writing it.

Short chapter, but it says what it needs to say.

* * *

Chapter 7: Shining Armor

EPOV

It was Wednesday afternoon; school would be over soon, Bella would go home with Alice to get ready for date number two with Mike. I hadn't been able to choke out the 'will you go to homecoming with me' that I had been rehearsing in my head all week, which meant Bella had yet to dump Mike and realize that I was her knight in shining armor.

The end of school bell rang and since I had been too busy thinking to participate in PE, I didn't need to dress back into my uniform, so I just left the gym and headed for Emmett's jeep. I waited about five minutes before wondering where the hell Emmett was, and what was taking him so long? Then I realized football practice. They hadn't had a schedule the last few days and Emmett had been able to drive me home, but that was no more. Now what? I sat there, humiliated, on the . . . Bus. I sat all the way in the back, sinking down in my seat as much as possible. I leaned my head against the glass window and shut my eyes, preparing myself for a very annoying hour ride home. I sat like this for a good thirty seconds before I heard a small voice,

"Mind if I sit with you?" Bella smiled and pointed to the seat next to me. I had forgotten Bella rode the bus home; maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

"Of course," I said rather quickly, shoving my things under the seat to make room for her. She placed her things in the seat in front and sat down. It was amazing being this close to Bella. Besides our brief hugs I had never really been that close to her, and now I got to enjoy an entire hour doing nothing but sitting close to her and talking.

"Why thank you kind sir" she joked, "what brings you to the bus?"

"Well, Emmett is sort of my ride home every day, and since I quit football and he didn't . . ."

"Ah, that sucks. Couldn't you just find someone else to take you home, I mean it's a small town, not that I don't enjoy your company," she winked, winked? She was flirting with me, right before her date with Mike. She was an odd girl.

The rest of the ride home was spent talking about her life, before Forks and currently. She told me about her brother Jasper who was surprisingly only seven months younger, she explained that he went to a boarding school in a nearby city because he was 'too smart for his own good' as Bella called it. It was clear that she adored him, which was more than I could say about my relationship with my own brother. She told me more about Phoenix, and the places she wanted to visit once graduated from high school. She was so cute when she talked about herself, whenever she spoke about the future her eyes lit up, when she talked about the past her eyes darkened in sadness, it hurt to watch her pain as she reminisced and told me about all the things she had had to leave behind.

When the bus reached our stop, she tore off a piece of notebook paper and quickly wrote down two numbers, I smiled in triumph. We said goodbye reluctantly and she told me to use the numbers whenever, day or night, no matter the time, and I fully intended too.

BPOV

I had walked about four feet away from Edward when my phone rang, the number on it was one I didn't know but I answered it regardless.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bella," Edwards velvet voice came over the phone; I turned around to see him smiling and waving at me, only a few feet away.

I rolled my eyes and turned away from, snapping my phone shut and waving over my shoulder, knowing that Alice was waiting to slather makeup all over me in anticipation for my next date with Mike, I groaned. He was a good guy and all, but I really didn't want to be with him.

Just as I thought, Alice was waiting for me, standing outside her yellow Porsche looking like she should be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She brought me inside the house, sat me down in front of a mirror and was soon hard at work. She was so good at making anyone look amazing; it should be an Olympic sport, I'd feel sorry for anyone up against her, she had the advantage.

After a horrifying hour of getting my hair pulled, teased, sprayed, and perfected, she moved to my face. Another hour forced to sit in silence as she poked and prodded my face, then the torture was over, and I had to admit, I looked pretty good.

Mike called to let me know he was on his way, but all I could think about was what Edwards was doing, and what he was thinking about, and if he knew that I would be out with Mike again. I thought about calling him, but I didn't know what I would say if I did. I really couldn't think long before Mike showed up, knocked on the door, and Charlie answered it, greeting him like an old friend.

"Mike! Great to see you again," he really was too enthusiastic to see him again, I couldn't tell if it was a show or not, I hadn't had the chance to ask him or Renee about what they thought of him. Maybe Charlie was just thankful I was making friends. He had never been too excited about the idea that one day I would have a boyfriend.

"Good to see you again sir," still as polite as ever.

I was in a hurry to get out of the house as usually, so I grabbed Mikes arm and pulled him out the door while they all called quick goodbyes and have funs at us.

"In a hurry to be alone with me are you?" What? Was he serious?

"Just ready to be away from the family for a little while, that's all." Did he really think I was anxious to be with him, and alone for that matter?

"Well, let's get out of here then. Where do you want to go? I was thinking Port Angeles, Seattle's a little far for a school night."

"Sounds good to me, what do you want to do tonight?"

"Well there's this awesome movie that came out called _Dead End_, wanna see it?" That had to be a scary movie, because who names a chick flick 'Dead End'? Although I loved scary movies, I wasn't too sure about watching one with Mike, I don't know why; I just had this bad feeling. I agreed against better judgment.

"Sure Mike, whatever you want."

The entire ride up to the theater was in uncomfortable silence, I felt the need to say something but the need to keep silent was overpowering it. Mike could have chipped in and said something but he sat like a statue in the driver's seat and pretty much ignored me the whole time. When we finally made it to the theater I let out a sigh as I got out of Mike's car. At least it was a movie; I wouldn't feel obligated to talk to Mike for about two hours. I was shocked when we walked up to the theater and Mike only paid for his ticket, then stood aside and waited for me to buy mine. What was this? I thought he asked me out on a date; surely he paid for his date. He had last time. I shrugged it off, and paid for my ticket then walked into the theater with Mike. He reached down for my hand and pulled me in. It was a little awkward being dragged into the theater like that, but I couldn't get my hand out of his. We took our seats and Mike immediately put his arm around my shoulders, it was getting pretty weird, he hadn't acted like this last time. I shook it off again, and just watched the movie, but I couldn't focus, even as people were dying and becoming zombies on the giant screen in front of me. The movie ended thank God, and he once again grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the exit.

"Where would you like to eat?" he asked, I didn't really have a preference, just something quick so I could eat and go home, get this horrible night over with. How had this happened? He was such a gentleman, so sweet, so interested and interesting, it was like he did a complete three sixty and was now a different person. We made it to the restaurant I ordered the first thing on the menu, and ate it as fast as I could.

"In a hurry Bella?" the sound of his voice startled me; we hadn't said anything at the restaurant except to order.

"Oh, homework to do, you know," I invented to give him a believable answer.

"Well, if you're done I'll take you home." He smiled, ok, this was the Mike I knew, that was sweet, he wanted to get me home so I could do my made up homework.

"Sure, let's go," I added, we stood up to leave, went up to the cashier and I expected him to pay but instead he turned to look at me.

"I paid last time, so . . ." Wow, ok.

"Sure," I scrambled to pull out my wallet and paid the bill, then walked out of the place quickly before he could see my flaming red cheeks.

Once we stepped outside, he once again grabbed my hand and pulled me towards an alley connected to the street with the place we had just eaten at. He pulled me into the alley going the opposite way of where he had parked earlier.

"What are we . . ." I didn't get to finish, Mike had his mouth all over mine before I could get the sentence out. I tried to push him off of me, but he was so big. He was being a little more than forceful as he shoved his tongue into my unwilling mouth. Then he broke away from me.

"How's that for hot, huh." He seemed pleased with himself.

"What the hell are you doing?" I usually don't curse, but the situation called for it.

"What?" He asked like he hadn't just assaulted me. "Why are you yelling, don't act like you didn't like that."

"Mike Newton, you take me home right now or I'm calling a cab."

"Oh fine, be a prude and ruin our whole night." He was disappointed, but what did he expect? For me to just strip down and give it to him right here in a dirty alley after two dates?

"Take me home." I said slowly, glaring at him the whole time.

He pushed himself off the wall and headed towards his car, I quickly caught up to him and started to walk ahead of him, when we reached the car he opened my door and I started to climb in when he slapped my butt and chuckled.

"MIKE!" I screamed.

He just continued to chuckle as he walked to his side to get in and take me home.

He revved the engine, like it was supposed to impress me or something; I rolled my eyes, crossed my arms over my chest and stared out the window. We were finally on our way home.

He looked at me a lot while he was driving; I just continued to stare out the window and refused to say anything to the many prods from him.

At one point he actually put his hand on my leg and squeezed, I pushed it off and stared at him with daggers in my eyes.

He looked like a hurt puppy.

I knew I had upset Mike, but I didn't care, I was the only one who had the right to be upset. How could he be such a great guy one second, then a total pervert the next?

"Bella come on," Mike's hand was inching towards me again; I literally thought I would throw up if he tried grabbing me again; he unbuckled my seatbelt before I realized what was going on, "let's have some fun."

I looked up to glare at him once again, he wasn't watching the road anymore, we were going too fast, and then there was nothing but pain and darkness.

* * *

And there you go.

Ok, I'm not changing the name of the story. I would really love to, but I couldn't think of a good name, so it stays the same.

If anyone has any idea's, I'd love to hear them.

Reviews are about as good as knowing what's going to happen next.


	8. Chapter 8: Jane

Twilight: Stephanie Meyer.

I cried writing this, there's more sadness to come, but I hope you stick with me.

* * *

Chapter 8: Jane

**EPOV**

"Bella come on," is what I heard when I answered the phone call from Bella.

"Hello?" I called, but the only thing I heard in response was Mike Newton. Bella had a phone that didn't close, which meant if it was in her pocket it could call people. I just happened to be that last person she had talked to on her phone that day. I knew she couldn't hear me, but I was too curious to hang up. I wish I had, because the next thing I heard made me furious, "let's have some fun."

It made me sick; I knew what Mike was doing, that sick fuck. How could he? Then all I heard from the other side was crunching metal, I almost dropped my phone, glass shattering, things flying around in Mike's car, they had crashed into something or someone. My mouth fell open and my eyes widened in horror.

"Bella," I whispered, but I looked down and the line had been disconnected.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Emmett's voice brought me back, enough to know that I needed to do something to save Bella.

"Emmett, jeep, I need it." I couldn't form a whole sentence when even my brain couldn't function correctly.

"Dude, I know you're sixteen and all, but that doesn't mean you can just jack my jeep whenever you feel like it, you don't even have a license.

"BELLA'S DYING!" I screamed at him, I didn't want to admit it, but it was probably true. Carlisle chose this time to stick his head into our conversation; he must have heard us talking and wanted to see what was going on.

"Edward, take mine." He said, I said a prayer for the man; his car was much faster than Emmett's jeep. I grabbed the keys from his outstretched hand and bolted for the door. I was running towards his Mercedes when I realized something that he should have, and ran back inside.

"You're a DOCTOR!" I yelled in the general direction of where he had been standing, he appeared a few feet away from me and then nodded his head and jogged behind me towards the car. He let me drive, even though it was his car, he knew I wouldn't argue with him if he took the keys, I think he assumed I knew where I was going, when he didn't even know what was going on. Truth be told I didn't know where I was going either. I faintly remember Alice mentioning that Bella should go to this restaurant, I couldn't remember what it was called, but I knew it had been in Port Angeles. So they must have gone there. It was a school night too, and Bella's parents were fairly strict by what she had told me. If I was lucky they would be on their way home, there was only one good way to get back to Fork's from Port Angeles, so I headed that way.

I didn't speak a word to Carlisle the whole time, just drove with determination, scanning the entire place for Mike's car. About fifteen miles out of Fork's I saw dozens of flashing lights, cop lights. There were fire fighters, EMT's, ambulances, cops, and hundreds of fucking lights. I slammed on the breaks and bolted out of the car, I ran up to the first person I could find, he was an extra ambulance driver.

"Bella," was all I said, he shrugged and mumbled something I didn't bother to listen too. I ran up to one of the cops that Carlisle was talking to and interrupted.

"The girl that was in the car, where is she?" I was frantic; I couldn't bring myself to ask if she was alive, I needed to know she was somewhere though.

"Both the driver and passenger were transported to the Harborview Medical Center on Ninth Avenue in Seattle. I don't know anything else though kid." Normally, being addressed like that would piss me off but I could only think of one thing at the moment.

"Go son." Carlisle bent down to say in my ear, I didn't need to be told twice, and I ran back to his car and peeled away. I didn't think that maybe he would need a ride, but he knew everyone there, he worked with most of them, he could get a ride from someone I was sure, Carlisle was not my concern. Bella was the only one I was thinking about.

I had no idea where the hospital the cop had mentioned was. But how hard could it be to find a big fucking hospital? I paid attention to the signs that pointed towards it, and eventually made it there.

I parked quickly in the covered garage on level C, sprinted towards the elevator and went to the ground floor. When I finally made it there, I ran to the receptionist who looked a little shocked at my appearance.

"Isabella Swan," I gasped. She typed the name into the computer in front of her rather slowly.

"I'm sorry; we don't have any patient's listed under that name." My heart dropped to my stomach, I was too late.

"This is Harborview right?" The last of my hope disappearing as she nodded.

"Yes, Harborview Medical Center."

"But, this is where they said they took her!" I was yelling again, I couldn't have lost her; I hadn't had the chance to have her yet.

"When was she brought in?"

"Just now, less than an hour ago, she was in a wreck with Mike, and now I don't know if she's ok, or if she's gone and I'm too late, and now you're telling me she's not here, and I'm hoping the cop was wrong because if he is then maybe there's a chance she's still alive, I can't lose her!" I was rambling, I was worried.

"Ok, calm down, we had two come in recently from an automobile accident within the hour, that's probably them, you say her name is Isabella Swan? We need to contact her parents, do you have their numbers? And Mike, do you know him?"

"Sure sure, where is she? Is she alive? Is she alright?"

"Listen to me," the receptionist said as she called one of the nurses towards her, "I need you to stay focused here, we need their names, Isabella Swan and . . ." She trailed off because she didn't know Mike's last name.

"Newton, it was Mike Newton driving the car. Bella was on a date with him. I need to see her, please tell me where she is!" I begged.

"Are you related to Isabella?" I had seen enough to know that if I said 'yes' then I could probably go see her.

"Yea, I'm her . . . Brother," I paused briefly, inventing a family member for Bella.

"In that case, this nurse over here is going to take you to ICU where she is being treated and hand over her personal belonging to you, I need you to get in touch with your parents, they need to be here." ICU, she was alive. I followed the nurse to the elevator and pulled out my cell phone.

"Edward?" Alice's voice came from over the phone.

"Alice, Bella and Mike were in a wreck, I need you to tell anyone that needs to know and get them up here." I snapped the phone shut because the elevator had opened up to the floor we wanted. I was lead to another desk, with another receptionist, the nurse talked to her and she handed my nurse a brown bag, she then handed it to me.

"These are her things, I need you to follow me to the waiting room and sit there, you can wait for the doctor there, and he'll have all the news about your sister." I nodded my head and followed her to where she had told me to wait.

And wait I did.

It had been an hour before I realized I had a bag of Bella's things in my hand, I opened it up and found a pile of her clothes, they were in plastic bags and soaked in blood, I dropped them, not wanting to know whose blood had soaked them, there was also her phone, the screen was cracked and a few buttons had fallen off, the only other things in the bag were a movie ticket and a few receipts. I put everything back and went to check the time on my own phone.

Before I could, I noticed the nineteen missed calls, from Alice and various other numbers I didn't know. There were five voice mails, all from Alice.

"Edward, what the hell, where did they wreck, what hospital are they at? You can't just hang up on me and not tell me where to take everyone!"

This was true; I had forgotten to tell them where she was. I was just about to call her back when Alice, Bella's parents, and another boy who had his arm wrapped securely around Alice's waste. I had no idea who he was, but he looked a lot like Bella's mom, so I assumed he was the brother I was impersonating, Jasper.

Bella's mom ran up to me and starting drilling me with questions, I told her I didn't know anything but that they had been brought here after the wreck.

"How did you know it had happened?" She had tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked so much like Bella that my heart broke looking at her and I wanted to hold her and comfort her.

"She accidently called me while she was in the car with Mike and I heard the whole thing," I said dryly, never wanting to hear that again.

"Do Mike's parents know yet?" Bella's dad asked me.

"I don't know, Bella was the only one I was concerned about." This made his brow furrow; no one knew I had feelings for her, no one but Alice.

"Well, someone needs to get in touch with them." I needed something to do while I waited for news about Bella, so I wandered over to the nurse's desk.

"Excuse me; can I have the things that were found with Mike Newton, the other person in the wreck?"

"I'm sorry, the young man in the car died. All of his things are in the morgue downstairs waiting to be processed." This hit me hard; no one had mentioned the fact that Mike hadn't made it. I guess no one had the guts to say it.

"I'm so sorry, were you a friend of his?" She asked politely, eyes watering as she reveled in the idea of another dead human being, the job must take a toll on people.

I walked away without answering, back to where everyone was waiting.

"Mike died." I shook when I said it. I knew it was true, I just hadn't grasped it. I need Carlisle, needed to talk to him, figure out what to do, he was a doctor, surely he knew the Newton's and could explain it to them. I picked up my phone, dialed his number from memory and walked to a corner of the room to sit by myself.

"Edward?"

"Mike died, they just told me; will you tell his parents? I don't want them finding out later from the hospital, or from around town." They deserved this at least.

"Of course, I'm at the hospital now; I'll see you in a minute." I clicked the phone shut without saying goodbye. I looked up at Bella's family, Mr. and Mrs. Swan were standing in the opposite corner, Bella's dad had his arms cradled to support her mom who was crying uncontrollably into his shoulder, Alice was sitting in Jaspers lap on the waiting room floor, she was crying as well. Jasper looked like concrete, his arms wrapped around Alice so tightly I was surprised she could breathe. Before I could do anything else, I was hit with a series of images, Bella's pale face scarred and bruised, bleeding, on the concrete by a demolished car. Then another of the same face, but this time surrounded by a casket, she was holding black roses and wearing a black dress. The worst was the one of her lying in a hospital bed, eyes open in pain while the heart monitor made a dull hum next to her as it registered her dead pulse, while a doctor in a blood stained lab coat walked up and closed her eyes for her.

I ran to the bathroom down the hall and threw up in the sink. I shook my head to get those thoughts out of my head, they had been so vivid. So real, like it was all happening right in front of me. I washed up and walked back to the waiting room, Carlisle was there now, holding Alice's tiny body in his arms. He looked up when I walked in, he had a grim expression on his face, he nodded in my direction and I took a seat near Jasper.

Alice eventually went back to sobbing in Jasper's shoulder while he cradled her, and Carlisle went to talk to Bella's parents.

Three more hours passed before a doctor appeared from the ominous double doors that lead to ICU. Carlisle rushed to talk to him first; the talked in low voices for a few minutes before the doctor turned and walked back through the swinging doors.

"Bella is in critical condition," Carlisle began, "She fractured her left leg, it's broken in six different places, she has a lot of scarring from the metal of the car, Dr. Stevens says she has around forty stitches in various areas, she's lost massive amounts of blood, the worst of it is internal, she's bleeding everywhere and they can't control it. I'm going back there to see what I can do to help, Edward keep your phone on you so I can keep everyone updated." Before we could ask him anything he disappeared and all we were left with was the swinging of the ICU doors.

"Critical?" Bella's mom whimpered.

We all sat in silence as another few hours as I stared at the phone in my hand that never rang.

Carlisle appeared before us sometime around 5:30 am, looking tired, with what I assumed was Bella's blood on his borrowed lab coat.

"Bella needs a blood transfusion, and this hospital isn't very well stocked with her blood type, we need to test all of you." Everyone sprang up from their chairs and followed him behind the mysterious doors that we had watched fly open and swing shut all night. Everyone was tested, Bella's mom and Alice were the same blood type as her, and so they donated as much as possible. I was devastated that I couldn't help; Bella's father, Jasper and I were ushered back into the waiting room. A while later Alice and Bella's mom, who I learned was named Renee, came back, looking a little pale and shaky.

I felt the need to talk to Alice.

"Have you seen her yet?" I wished I had.

"Just through a window where she's being operated on," this explained the horror in her eyes. It must be worse than we all had imagined. I didn't want to imagine anymore. I needed to see her. I called Carlisle's cell and he answered on the first ring.

"I need to see her," I really did, it was almost crucial at this point.

"You can't until she's been stabilized and in her own room," he had barely finished his sentence when I heard a nurse call him frantically along with the sound of metal hitting metal and then the line was disconnected. This scared the shit out of me, I couldn't sit in the waiting room anymore, and pacing never helped my nerves.

"I'm going to walk around for a bit, someone call me if they have any news." Before they could protest or offer to come with me I had turned on my heels and headed for the elevator.

I wandered the sick hallways, never stopping on a certain floor for very long. There was a maternity ward, a prosthetic limb ward, and many others. I spend most of my time in the children's wing of the hospital. I crossed from room to room looking at the names on the doors, stopping in at the waiting rooms to see all the toys and coloring books littering the floor, there was never anyone in them, which was why I stuck around. I kept walking, one of the patient's doors was open, and there was a little girl, though it was hard to tell from her shaved head, sitting up in her bed staring at the door. When she saw me she smiled and waved to me to come in. I did, and sat down at the end of her bed.

"I'm Jane." She said in the tiniest voice, I couldn't help but smile just a little.

"My name is Edward, what are you doing up so late?" I didn't actually know what time it was but I assumed it was too late for Jane to be awake, she seemed to be about eight or nine, but rail thin, even for a child.

"It's almost eight in the morning," she stared at me with her head slightly tilted, "you're eyes are very sad." The statement made me chuckle, 'children are more perceptive than we give them credit for' was something Carlisle said often after coming home from a long shift at the hospital.

"I think I'm a little more sad than my eyes," I didn't know if she would understand or not, but judging by the expression in her eyes, I figured she did.

"Someone you know is hurting, do you love her?" I started shaking again, Carlisle was right, she was more aware of my feelings than I was.

"I think I might, and now I'm losing her, she might be dying." The horrible images of Bella I had seen earlier flashed in front of my eyes again. I shook my head as if to shake them out of my head.

"Mama tells me every day; death ends a life, not a relationship. She needs you to love her Edward." I didn't think about what she said, didn't think about the profound knowledge behind the words, I just got up and ran back to the elevator that would bring me closer to Bella.

* * *

There you go, I was conflicted in the killing of Mike, I wanted too, but didn't want to. In the end a good friend of mine reminded me that it's my story to write, and I should write it the way it comes to me.

Erin, thanks for letting me bounce ideas off of you.  
Ben, thanks for being so smart and helping with some of the medical stuff.  
JennCD, your reviews make me giggle like a little girl, thank you so much!

Reviews are nice.


	9. Chapter 9: Constant Unawareness

Twilight is SM's, not JM's (my initials).

This chapter is a little different, Bella is waking up every now and then, so this chapter will be mostly EPOV, but when Bella wakes up, I'll write about how she feels and what she sees.

* * *

Chapter 9: Constant Unawareness

**BPOV**

I woke up screaming, I couldn't help it, my reflexes had been dulled, I couldn't understand anything anyone was shouting at me, I just screamed, screamed until it felt like my ears were bleeding. Then I couldn't feel anymore.

**EPOV**

I made it back to the ICU level and checked with Alice, nothing had changed. Not a word about Bella's condition. I thought about calling Carlisle again to see if I could see her, but I knew he would refuse, giving me that bullshit about her having to be stable. She didn't need to be stable for me to look through a window. I realized in the back of my head that normally I would be sitting in class soon, listening to some teacher drone on about some useless piece of information. I considered calling Emmett to let him know what was going on, or to tell him to let the school know what had happened. Surely he knew enough to get the gossip going. Not that I necessarily wanted there to be gossip, but I knew it would be worse if no one knew anything.

It was four hours later when Carlisle resurfaced and told us that Bella was finally in a stable condition. I jumped to my feet as they wheeled Bella out behind him, I sprinted to her side but her eyes weren't open. I finally understood the weight of the pain in Alice's eyes when she told me she had seen Bella.  
She was much worse than even my most graphic mind could have imagined. A large gash covered most of the left side of her neck, starting near her jaw line and disappearing under her hospital gown, a chunk of her bottom lip was missing, I noticed two small stitches keeping the rest of it together, deep cuts covered her face, what I could see of her chest, her arms, and most of her right leg. Both of her eyes were black and her nose was off center. The worst was the giant cast and brace that covered the whole of her left leg. "She fractured her left leg; it's broken in six different places," the words came flooding back to me, Carlisle had said this when he was explaining what had happened during the wreck. I was brought to my knees at the sheer gravity of her condition. She was on a hospital gurney, being rolled towards the elevator, to be taken to her own room I assumed.

I got up and followed Bella, the rest of my family and hers followed as well. There was no room in the elevator after Bella and her doctors were in, so Carlisle bent down to whisper in my ear, "floor seven, in room two-oh-six." He was letting me know where I could find Bella when the elevator doors closed.

**BPOV**

I was dead; I knew it would happen soon. I was so sure I was dead, I ran through all the details in my head. Mike and I had crashed into a tree, the ambulances had shown up to take us to the hospital, I saw so much of my own blood and I felt so much pain that I wished death would hurry up. I faintly remembered people shouting and things banging around. Now I felt no pain, all I could see through my closed eyes was the brightness of a very white light, and the sensation of moving upwards. I was going to heaven at least; I could wait for Edward there. My eyes opened; if I was dead at least I could enjoy the scenery, what I saw was an angel, someone had made me my own Edward, it was him perfectly, but slightly older, same piercing green eyes, crooked smile, just a little older.

"Bella," he asked gently, but my eyes had already rolled back into the back of my head and I was unconscious again.

**EPOV**

Bella was taken to her room, but I still wasn't allowed to visit her until tomorrow afternoon. Her parents however had been allowed in the room. They checked back often to let us know how she was doing. As far as I could tell she was still unconscious and unresponsive, though Carlisle had told me that she had woken up in the elevator for a few seconds. I regretted not insisting on being in the elevator with her, but at least she was showing progress. There was a small rectangular window to the door of Bella's room, I stood at it for hours, staring at whatever I could see of her, counting down until I could enter her room and sit with her. At half past seven in the evening, I decided to visit the children's wing again, I didn't know if it was the solitude, or the thought of discovering something else that was obscure about me by Jane. I walked the faintly familiar hallways, like I had been there years ago, instead of this morning. I found Jane's door open again, but this time she wasn't sitting up in bed, she was lying down, and she wasn't alone, her parents and a doctor sat with her this time, laughing at something someone had said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll come back later." I mumbled to the floor, hating myself for barging in on such an intimate exchange as a moment between parent and child. I went to sit in the children's waiting room, looking at the same toys and coloring books strewn across the floor like they had been earlier. Didn't anyone else come down here? Not too much later, Jane's father came out and shook my hand, "we have to leave now," he informed me, "If you'd like, we'd love for you to keep Jane company while were gone, even if it's only for a few moments." How did he know I wasn't some sort of child killer?

"Thank you," was all I said, I knew I wasn't going to hurt the little girl, but really, he didn't. This was his child, his sick child no less, and he was leaving her to defend for herself from a perfect stranger.

I walked into Jane's room, still brooding a little. I went to sit on the couch that was near her bed, she still wasn't sitting up. Thinking it was impolite to ask what she was in for, I decided on a safer subject.

"Do your parents often leave you with strangers?" I meant it to be jokey, but it came out harsh and accusing. I was tired.

"They trust me," she shrugged; she must be older than I thought originally.

"And how do you know you can trust _me?_" I put a heavy emphasis on the last word.

"You stand up straight when you walk. Dangerous people always slouch, even if it's just a bit." Was her response, how she could possibly be sure of this knowledge, I wasn't sure, but she seemed quite confident, and I didn't want to be the person that burst a bubble so I let it go.

"What's her name?" She asked, tilting her head like she had this morning.

"Her name is Isabella, but everyone calls her Bella."

"If my name was Isabella, that's what I would want to be called, but Bella is nice too. It's certainly better than Issy." Her comment made me laugh, and I made a mental note to try calling Bella, Issy one day.

"How old are you?" I asked abruptly, stopping my laughter, and looking at her intently.

"I'd be ten in November." She smiled proudly, as if her age was something you could get a trophy for.

"I remember this one time, when I was ten, me and my brother Emmett decided to parachute off the roof, so we tied bed sheets to our wrists and ankles, climbed up on top of the roof and jumped off, it was the dumbest thing I've ever done." I smiled at the memory, it still brought some pain to my ribs when I thought about it, but it was something Emmett and I shared, and there weren't too many of those types of things.

Jane giggled, and continued her barrage of questions. It went on like this for what seemed like several hours, Jane always asking questions, some hard to answer, some hard to think about, and some that would keep me up for hours at a later date. I wanted to ask her things too, but she never gave me the chance. At nearly nine a doctor showed up.

"Jane, it's time for you to get some sleep," he said as he gave her a new IV bag.

"Goodbye Edward," she said with a sweet but lacking smile, "I'll see you again," she bobbed her head in a yawn while she said this.

"Hey, next time you're getting sleepy, let me know and I'll get out of your hair." She laughed hysterically at that, and I sat there staring trying to figure out what she was laughing at, until I realized with horror that she had no hair. "I'm SO sorry," I began but she didn't let me finish.

She raised her hand, silently accepting my apology and said "it's a fashion statement; some people are bound to make a comment."

I swear the girl talked and acted like she was so much older than nine.

--

It was two in the afternoon the next day; I was finally allowed to sit in Bella's room with her. I pulled one of the chairs from the waiting room into hers, and sat down, taking up a permanent residence until Bella was well. I hadn't noticed how tired I was until I sat down for more than five minutes and did nothing. I told myself that I would lay my head down for a few minutes, but that was all, I wanted to be awake when she woke up, I wanted it to be me that was the first thing she saw, and the first person she talked to when she came to. Only five minutes, ten tops, I said to myself as I yawned.

**BPOV**

The pain was back, but not enough to cause the screaming, just enough to make me wince if I moved the wrong way, or too fast. I became aware of a weight on my right leg, and decided I should open my eyes. It was Edward Cullen, he was fast asleep, his arm hanging over my bare leg, and (thank goodness I had shaved). I picked my hand up, although it felt extremely heavy, and set it in his bronze colored and disheveled hair; I ran my hand through it, like I had wanted to when I first saw him. It felt somehow better than it looked, soft. My hand was too heavy to put back on my bed, and I soon fell back to sleep.

**EPOV**

I was having the most amazing dream ever, Bella and I were laying down in a huge meadow, one that I knew well, but had never shown anyone else. A special place I went to think, and figure out the problems in my life. Bella certainly wasn't a problem, but she was special enough to me to be brought her. We were laying on the soft green grass, me flat on my back, Bella propped up on one elbow, she was running her hands through my hair and smiling down at me, all scars erased, all the pain gone, and the memories of the accident, nonexistent.

I woke up startled at the sound of Bella's heart monitor, it was no longer spiking the way it should when her heart beat at a normal pace, it was simply one long flat line. Her heart had stopped, I started to panic, I ran to the door, ripped it open and yelled for doctors, nurses, and Carlisle.

A doctor and two nurses came running, the shoved me to one side and I watched in horror as they brought out the paddles to shock her heart into pumping. They checked her vitals quickly; I was shocked when I noticed she wasn't breathing. They had noticed it first, and I stood terrified as they began shoving tubes down her throat, there was a bag at the end of the tube and the nurse started to pump it steadily, Bella's pulse finally started to spike again, relief. She was still alive.

--

After all the commotion, the doctors examined her again and said that one of her lungs had collapsed, and stopped her breathing. She was doing better now but would have to be under constant supervision. I was yet again, not allowed in the room for at least another six hours.

**BPOV**

I woke up screaming again, there was just too much pain. I hadn't died; I had hoped I had died.

**EPOV**

I was jerked from my sleep in the waiting room by Bella's screams. Nurses came running from all directions, shouts of panic; medical words were being called over their shoulders as they ran from room to room, suddenly all was quiet and calm. I wasn't sure if it was the sleep deprivation, or someone hitting me over the head, but as soon as I knew Bella was ok, I was knocked out again.

I woke up, I didn't know what time it was, or where I was, or why I was not in my own room back in Forks.

"Wha. . . "I looked over at Alice, she was wide awake and sitting with, who was that? Then it all came rushing back, Bella and Mike in the accident, Mike dying, Bella in ICU, everyone showing up. Alice was sitting with Jasper, Bella was in a normal room, I could go see her in six hours, well less now that I had slept, and I kicked myself for doing it, but I don't think it was my fault, I think I just fell asleep.

"Alice what time is it?" She didn't blink; she just looked at a big clock on the wall and looked back at me, blank and stony faced. Since she didn't tell me, I looked for myself. I had been asleep for a total of thirty minutes. I still had over five hours till I could see Bella again. Half an hour ticked by . . .

Five hours until I could see Bella . . .

Four hours until I could see Bella . . .

Three hours until I could see Bella . . .

Two hours until I could see Bella . . .

One more hour, this was taking longer than it should, I thought I would die waiting for the door to Bella's door to be unlocked. Fifteen minutes, my eyes never left the clock on the wall. Ten minutes, I didn't shift my body from the wall. Five minutes, I never said a word, even when people were talking to me. Finally, it had been a long as fuck six hours, I bolted out of my chair to go and get the nurse to tell her that I was going into Bella's room.

"Well," the nurse said politely, "you'll have to check with your parents before entering her room." Why would I have to talk to Carlisle? Then I remembered, I was supposed to be Bella's brother.

"Yes ma'am," I told her politely, I turned around to find Bella's parents, or at least her real brother, but no one was there. Even Alice had up and left. I decided the hell with it, so while the nurse wasn't looking I slipped into Bella's room and shut the door quickly. I glanced at her, she as still completely unaware of anything going on around her. She didn't realize I was with her, standing over her, ready to protect her from anything. I promised myself that I would from now on do what was best for Bella, no matter what.

**BPOV**

It was cold where I was, wandering around in the snow in nothing but a hospital gown, bare feet and tubes sticking out of my nose, mouth, and arms. I shivered again, it really was cold, and I couldn't control the chills going up and down my spine. My eyes were shut, too heavy to open even a fraction of an inch, my mouth was filled with a tube that I hoped would come out soon, it was gagging me. I started to cough, and cough, but the tube would come out, I started to panic, but no one came and saved me.

**EPOV**

"CARLISLE!" I screamed when Bella started to choke on the tube in her throat that had once been keeping her alive. Carlisle actually came running this time, instead of a nurse. He quickly disconnected the tube and pulled it slowly out of Bella's throat and mouth, she continued to cough, but it was weaker now, she sat up a little, then winced and fell back onto her bed, her head rolling to the side.

I had hoped that she was about to wake up, but she just went back to sleep, like nothing at all unusual had just happened. Carlisle patted me on the shoulder and went to leave. Wasn't this fazing anybody? I remembered how everybody had left, and I went to ask him, but he was already gone. Not caring all that much, I didn't go after him. I just sat down in the seat I had brought from the waiting room and, waited. Occasionally Bella would jerk around a bit, nothing violent, just something like when you're being tickled. The one thing I noticed was that she shivered, constantly.

I looked around her room, but only saw one small, blue, hospital blanket, it was extremely thin, but I put it over her anyway. Just like I had predicted, it didn't help much, so I took off my jacket and draped it over her torso, folding up the blanket a few time and laying it over her legs. I sat back down, I rested my hand in hers, hoping it gave her some sort of unconscious security.

**BPOV**

"Edward," I whispered, not fully awake, but still having the most amazing dream. I had been picking flowers in a meadow, the snow had evaporated and I was warmer now, I had just picked about a dozen daisies when Edward had shown up, glowing the way only Edward Cullen could. He had walked right up to me, pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I had melted into the kiss, just loving the feel of his lips on mine.

"Bella," he sighed, resting his for head on mine. He squeezed me tighter and I yelped in pain, where had that come from? It wasn't so bad, so I ignored it for a second, but then it got so intense that my eyes shot open, my eyes met Edwards, but I couldn't tell if it was real Edward or dream Edward. But why would real Edward be sitting in my room? And why did my chest hurt, and why . . . A lot of things happened in a short amount of time, I remembered a tree, flashing lights, lots of pain, and nothing else.

"Are you real Edward?" I had no other way of asking, or figuring out, so I was blunt about it.

"I'm real Bella, how are you feeling? Are you in pain, I can go get a nurse and she can give you more medication." Why did I need medication?

"Medication for what?" I was so disoriented, and I just wanted some answers.

"Well Bella, you and Mike were in an accident on your way home from Port Angeles, you're in a Seattle hospital being treated."

That answered a lot, but Mike? Why had I been out with Mike? That didn't make sense, I liked Edward.

"Where's Mike?" I started looking around, maybe he was in the same room as I was, and I should make sure he was ok.

"Bella," he said in a strained voice, "Mike died in the car wreck."

**EPOV**

Tears filled Bella's eyes at the mention of Mike's passing, at the same time my phone started buzzing and I tore my eyes away from hers to answer it.

"Alice, where are you?"

"I was trying to tell you while we were in the waiting, were all going to Mike's viewing, I called to tell you that the funeral is tomorrow. How's Bella?"

"She just woke up, I'm filling her in now," I was rather impatient with her, ready to get back to Bella now that she was awake for more than mere seconds. We said our goodbyes and I focused my attention on Bella once again.

"Who was that?" She asked in an oddly distant voice.

"That was Alice; she was telling me that Mike's funeral is tomorrow" her eyes wide at my words, impossibly wide.

"Mike . . . Died?"

* * *

The end.

Just a few side notes, Bella doesn't see an angel in the elevator, she see's Carlisle, but since he is Edwards father, they look quite similar.

Another, the story about Edward and Emmett jumping off there roof, I did that when I was nine and broke two of my ribs, needless to say I never did it again, the same can't be said for breaking my ribs sadly.

Peace out, reviews are as good as wearing Edward's jacket when it's cold outside.


	10. Chapter 10: Weddings and Funerals

Just for you Erin, a little flirt and a little fluff.

* * *

Chapter 10: Weddings and Funerals

**EPOV**

"Bella, I just told you that he died, weren't you listening?" She stared at me blankly.

"Who died?" She looked worried.

"Bella, Mike died in the car crash." I was getting desperate and scared at this point. What the hell?

"What are you talking about, where am I? Where are my parents? What crash?" Oh fuck, this was not good. I left without saying anything.

"Carlisle," he was sitting with his girlfriend Esme in the waiting room not far from where Bella's room was.

"Is something wrong with Bella?" His eyes were alert as I moved slowly towards him.

"I, I don't know. She can't remember the wreck or something, she keeps freaking out every time I mention the wreck, like she forgets right after I tell her."

Carlisle jumped to his feet and walked swiftly towards Bella's room.

"Bella, do you know why you're here?"

"Not really, I can see my legs in a cast; did I fall down or something?" She giggled a little even though the situation was much too serious for that.

"Bella, you were in a really bad car accident with Mike Newton, do you remember?"

Her eyes grew wide, shocked, scared. She looked down at her hands first, the scars not yet beginning to heal, her eyes watered, silent tears ran down her cheek as she looked down at her slightly exposed chest, the panic crept up into her eyes as she began pulling the hospital gown down further looking at the long scar that continued farther than she was willing to pull her shirt.

"Accident," recognition glazed over her eyes, she was beginning to remember. "I remember being in a car, Mike's car, he was driving fast, so fast, and he was looking at me, and then I don't know, we hit someone?" She couldn't remember that part because she had been unconscious during the actual impact.

"Bella you hit a tree, your legs broken, and you have a lot of cuts and stitches, but you're doing a lot better now, but there's something else I have to tell you, and it's not good news. Mike died when you two were in the accident."

"No . . ." She trailed off, "he didn't, he didn't die, he couldn't have, he died?" She was crying, hard and all I wanted to do was crawl onto the bed with her and wrap her in my arms, but instead I walked to her side and held her hand as she cried, cried her heart out at the news my own father had given her.

"Edward, we have to leave now." Carlisle said in his serious tone, I looked up at him anger clear in my eyes and all over my face, what was he talking about?

I looked up to meet his eyes and they were as serious as mine. I thought that he had taken care of Bella pretty good so far, I could trust him even if his request was bizarre and I didn't want to go along with it.

We walked out of the room after I kissed the hand of Bella's that I had been holding. Once we were outside of the room, he closed her door and started to explain.

"I think that Bella has amnesia, but I'm not sure how severe. In five minutes we'll walk back in and try again."

I hoped to God he was wrong about the amnesia; that would just be fucking horrible.

Five minutes, long minutes, passed. We walked back in; Bella seemed absolutely fine, like no one had come in a few minutes ago and told her of a life altering accident and a dead schoolmate.

"Bella, do you know why you're here?"

"Not really, my legs in a gigantic cast though, did I trip again?" Once again she tried to find humor in a serious situation, and my hopes disappeared quickly, she clearly didn't remember anything about the wreck.

"Bella," Carlisle said gently, "you have amnesia, a very acute and specific amnesia." She had amnesia, it crushed me.

"Bella," Carlisle continued, "you were in an accident, that's what happened to your leg, you must have hit your head because you can't seem to remember anything about the accident but you can remember everything else, or so I assume, I'm going to ask you a few questions, I need you to answer when you can, and let me know when you can't."

"Accident," it was again, not said as a question, more like she couldn't remember what the word even meant.

"What is your full name?"

"Isabella Marie Swan."

"What is your brother's name?"

"Jasper Whitlock Swan."

"When is your birthday?"

"September 13."

"What are the names of your mother, father, and step father?"

"Mothers name is Renee Swan, fathers name is Phil Dwyer, and my step fathers name is Charlie Swan."

"Ok Bella, you're doing great, I need to ask you some short term questions, where do you go to school?"

"Forks High School"

"What classes do you take?"

"Physical Science, Civics, Computer Science, Algebra 1, English 1, and P.E., in that order, we hit a tree," dawning streaked across her face.

"What was that last part Bella?"

"I don't know, we hit a tree, is that why I'm in here, because I hit a tree?"

"Bella that's great! You remember! This is really amazing progress, I can't tell you anything about what happened, I need you to remember gradually, we've all told you what happened, so you know, you just can't remember you know, and telling you again could begin to damage your memory."

She looked confused but it looked like she understood anyway. Carlisle got my attention and motioned for me to follow him out of the room, for once I obliged without making a fuss.

"Edward, Esme and I have a meeting with our marriage councilor that we really can't miss or reschedule, so I'd like you to stay with her, keep her company, make sure she's being taken care of correctly. Also, Bella won't be able to make it to the funeral today, I'd like you to go in her place, she'll thank you for that later." What did he mean? She would thank me for going in her place so she didn't have to, or going because she couldn't? I guess it didn't really matter all that much. Carlisle patted me on the back as he returned to Esme's side, he took her hand and led her to the elevator, I waved as the doors closed then went and got my own elevator, I returned to the main floor where I knew there was a gift shop.

I located what I was looking for in the shop fairly quickly and easily, and then looked around for other things that might help. When I was done I took everything to the register and pulled out my wallet.

I took everything back up to Bella's room, knocked softly and waited for Bella to tell me to come in.

"Edward," she said in awe, "are those for me?"

"Of course, everyone deserves flowers, especially someone like you." I flashed a smile and set her tulips on the table beside her bed.

"What else did you bring?" She asked looking at the bag that had the rest of the things I had bought at the gift store.

"Just a few things to make your hospital stay a little more enjoyable I hope." I brought out the deck of cards I had purchased, climbed up on her bed, and began to shuffle. "Name your game."

"How about strip poker?" She giggled, oh that would be nice. "I'm just kidding! Sheesh, don't have a heart attack!"

I laughed as well and started to deal out cards. We played, laughed, talked, and had a good time; Bella even confessed that for a while, she forgot she was even in the hospital. I hoped that was a good thing and not a bad one, I didn't want to add to her amnesia.

Eventually half past three o'clock came around and I had to say goodbye to Bella in order to make it to Mike's funeral on time. I gave Bella a weak excuse about having to do some errands for a few hours so as to not remind her of the accident and Mike's death. I excused myself from her room, and began walking to the elevator when I realized that there was no way I'd be able to go to his funeral, I had no way of getting there.

"Young man," a voice called me from behind, I turned around and saw a nurse sitting behind a desk, she waved me over to her and I did as I was instructed.

"Dr. Cullen left me this set of keys to give to you." That was dear old Dr. Cullen, always thinking a step or two ahead.

I took the keys, and headed to wear I vaguely remembered parking days before. It really had been days, but I wasn't sure how many. I thought that it might be Friday or Saturday, but I wasn't really sure.

I started the engine, backed out of the hospital, and headed home; knowing Carlisle would kill me if I showed up at a funeral dressed in clothes stained in blood, when I hadn't had a shower in days. It didn't take too long to arrive home; I had learned early to drive at least twenty miles over the speed limit, compliments of Emmett. I showered quickly and dressed in khaki pants, a white button down shirt, and a black tie. I ran my hands through my always disheveled hair, grabbed the keys to Carlisle's Mercedes and headed to the funeral home where Mike's funeral would surely be being held.

--

I had no idea what possessed me to do it, but here I was, standing up in front of everyone at Mike's funeral, about to give a speech about a guy I had pretty much hated only a few days ago.

"Mike Newton was a good friend; he looked out for his friends, dedicated himself to what he was doing, and cared about those who were privileged enough to know him." As I said these sugar coated words that would hopefully bring a little comfort to those grieving the loss of a son, grandson, friend, and classmate, I was assaulted with memories of Mike, when he and I had gotten along, before Bella had come to Forks.

"I'll never forget the championships Mike and I went to in basketball, the tournaments we played together in, the medals and trophies we earned _together_." I was saying all this, and it was true. Finally the full impact of his death hit me, and my eyes started to water. I had to be honest; it was the only way to send Mike off properly. "Mike Newton could get on a guy's nerves, and God knows he could get on mine, but he also knew how to motivate a person, keep them going when they didn't want to, inspire when there was no inspiration. Mike was a great guy and a gentleman at times. He will be missed, but not forgotten, never forgotten."

I stepped down off of the stage, I didn't even bother going back to my chair next to Alice and Jasper, I just went straight for the exit. No need to linger when I'd done what I didn't even realize I was meant to. I had paid my respects to Mike Newton in a way I would have never imagined, who knew I had the guts to get up in front of a bunch of people I didn't know and say things I would never have thought I could about Mike Newton. As much as I hated to admit it, I would miss him.

**BPOV**

Edward had left for his so called errands, and I was in my hospital room all alone, he had left the bag of things he had gotten at the gift store, he had bought me a few books, one of them being an all time favorite, Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass. I picked it up, and started reading. I had been reading for what seemed like hours when the book was pulled out of my hands and I saw Edwards smiling face so close to mine.

**EPOV**

I don't really know what possessed me to do it, at this point, it was over and it didn't matter, I was glad that I had kissed her, even if it was only on the forehead. I just bent down, and kissed her forehead, pulling out from behind my back the daisy's I had brought for her. I sat down in the chair by her bed and stared into her eyes while I massaged the back of her hand.

"Reading my book huh?" I asked, clearly she was but I was more than ready to hear her voice again.

"It's one of my all time favorite, how did you know?" She asked with a sly look in her slanted eyes.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I can read minds."

"Really, you know that might have been something you could have mentioned on a first date."

"Well, I would have, accept Miss Swan hasn't yet agreed to a date with me."

"I do hope I haven't hurt Mr. Cullen's feelings with my rejection, I won't let it happen again."

"Promise?"

"Pinky promise." And at that, we hooked pinkies and I picked up her book, and began to read to her. Picking up where she left off, the book didn't make much sense to me but it made her giggle, laugh, chuckle, at certain times, her laugh made me smile. I was glad for the millionth time that she had been moved to her own room, this allowed me to spend as much time with her as I wanted. I eventually got up the nerve to climb up on the bed with her and wrap one of my arms around her. She snuggled into the crook of my arm and we watched TV together like that for an hour. We were both falling asleep when the nurse came in to change her IV and check her vitals, I woke up, but Bella continued dozing, the nurse didn't seem to mind at all that I was still there and didn't show signs of leaving.

Bella made the most adorable noises when she slept, no snore, but the sound of her steady breath was soothing and comforting. It almost lulled me to sleep. Once the nurse left, Bella started to stir, not wanting her to wake up after not enough sleep I started to hum to her, nothing familiar, something completely unique, just like her. A smile played across her face as I continued humming to her, her own little lullaby, Bella's lullaby.

It was nearly eleven at night when Carlisle came in to check on us, he was quiet, knowing she would be asleep at this late hour, he was startled when he looked up and saw me still with her, let alone in bed with her. He didn't say anything, just walked up, looked at her chart with squinted eyes, nodded his head once or twice and then placed the clipboard back on the end of her bed and turned to go back to the door. He looked at me when he got to the door, leaning to one side he motioned with his head for me to follow, but I shook my head telling him silently that I would stay with Bella, to watch over her, make sure she was safe. He nodded his head and left. Sometimes I really loved that man.

**BPOV**

The clock on my bedside table said it was 3:30, but I wasn't sure if that was AM or PM. I assumed it was PM since Edward was silently sleeping on my shoulder. I loved it, the closeness, the familiarity, the comfort. I loved waking up and remembering him reading to me, crawling into bed with me, falling asleep in his arms, listening to him hum me back to sleep after the nurse came in. I loved having these memories and knew I would never forget them, not a one.

* * *

Sorry for the shortness, the lateness, it's not as good as I wanted it to be.  
Please excuse the writing, I'm having a really depressing day, and I'm angry at the world. I hope it doesn't show in my writing.

I needed to get this chapter out though.

Hope you like it.

Reviews are as good as a lullaby from Edward.


	11. Chapter 11: Greif

Sorry it's taken me this long to update, I've had my own funeral to go to, and it hasn't been all that easy on me.

This has been my life for the past few days:

* * *

Chapter 11: Grief

**EPOV**

The day Bella was released from the hospital was also the day a service was being held for Mike at the school. I knew I wasn't supposed to, but I couldn't not bring Bella to it, she would hate me if I hadn't done it, she would blame herself forever for not at least getting to go to this. I didn't bother telling Carlisle what I had planned, he would more than likely stop me, saying Bella needed to remember for herself, but she wasn't, so I decided to help.

Checking out of the hospital was a long affair. Me, Jasper, Alice, and even Emmett were there to bring Bella home, it shocked me slightly that her parents couldn't get off work to come see their daughter home safely, but it also helped with my plan.

We finally checked out, and Bella was wheeled out in a wheel chair, even though it obviously wasn't needed. But before I could leave the hospital, there was someone I needed to say goodbye to and thank.

I gave everyone a quick explanation and a promise to be back in no more than five minutes and headed for the children's wing of the hospital.

I made it to my destination and walked towards Jane's room. I knocked softly but didn't wait for an answer, I just let myself in. There was someone I hadn't expected sitting on Jane's bed, Carlisle. I looked at him with a puzzled look. I knew he worked here and all, but how could he have possibly known that I knew Jane. Then I realized Jane wasn't even here.

"Where is she?" No threat or hard feelings in my voice, simply curiosity.

"Well, she had cancer Edward, and she passed on a day ago, she left this for you though." He pulled out an envelope from his pocket before I could even register the words of her death.

On the top of the envelope was my name, scrawled in a child's handwriting, it was precise, but not necessarily neat. She had spelled out my entire name, though I couldn't recall telling her that my middle name was in fact Anthony, or mentioning that my last name was Cullen, maybe she had asked Carlisle. He had in fact been the one to hand deliver that letter. I sank down on the bed before opening the letter; Carlisle got swiftly to his feet and exited the room. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it here and now, or later in the solitude of my room, where I could pour over the letter and read it over and over. In the end I decided to do it here, where she had written it, just for me.

Edward Anthony Cullen

_Dear Edward,_

_I'm sorry I'll never be able to say these words to you face to face, I knew when I met you that there was no way I could tell you the seriousness of my cancer._

__

You were already hurting so much because of Isabella that I didn't want to be the one to add to your pain.

It's easier for me now, knowing I will probably never see you again; it's easier to write these things instead of saying them and seeing the pain in your amazingly green eyes grow.

I didn't want to see the corners of your mouth turn down slightly when I told you I had no time left in my life.

There's no one to blame for my cancer, and no one to blame for the lack of a cure.

I know more than anyone how unfair it is for someone my age to die. But that's what has happened; I'm in a better place as you read this, somewhere where cancer can't hurt me anymore.

I'm forever thankful for this place, thankful there is a place, and I can be here.

My only regret is that I never got to feel what you feel when you look at Isabella.

I'll never know the love of one person to another other than the love of my family for me, and mine for them.

I wish you the best of luck in your life and everything you do Edward, you were a friend, no matter how brief our relationship was, I hope I helped, I hope I might have made things easier for you, and I hope you remember me every now and then.

Just stop and whisper a little hello, I'll hear it, no matter where I am.

_Jane_

"Thank you Jane."

Ten minutes later I was headed for Carlisle's car to take Bella home. It was a long drive; I was so insanely glad that it was such a long drive, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I held Bella's hand the whole way home, only occasionally looking away from the road to throw her a quick and crooked smile, I watched as she stared out the window, a smile on her lips at the beginning of our trip, but now a frown was setting in.

I couldn't tell what she was thinking about, and her constantly changing expressions were so confusing and hard to read.

"Bella, what's the matter?" The only way to know was to ask, right?

"I'm not sure, I'm just getting weird flash backs, déjà vu kind of stuff, you know?"

Maybe this was it, maybe she was remembering the wreck and then the ceremony today wouldn't come as such a shock.

I hoped.

I prayed.

We made it back to her house without much fuss, she told me she couldn't figure out why she was having such a strong sense of déjà vu, and that maybe if she just got home things would clear up a bit.

I parked Carlisle's car on the side of their driveway, got out quickly and ran to her side of the car to open the door for her before she could even turn around to get her crutches.

Just as Emmett had done earlier when he had brought her to the car after getting checked out of the hospital, I picked her up bridal style like he had done, and carried her to the front door.

Jasper and Alice had taken Alice's car here and gotten home before us. Jasper opened the door before I could knock, and held it open so I could carry her in without having to put her down. He then walked out to the car to get her crutches and brought them back into the house.

Alice was perched on top of the coffee table that occupied a corner of the Swan's living room. I laid Bella down as gently as possible on the couch so as not to hurt her leg further.

The first thing Alice did when Bella was down was jump up and run to her side, I swear she was a never ending ball of caffeine and energy. I didn't know where it came from either, her mother Esme was a calm collected woman, but Alice? She was unlike any person, animal, or alien I had ever encountered. Apparently she didn't fall into any of those categories.

"Bella, how are you feeling?" Good God, how did Alice think she was feeling?

"A little foggy, I can only remember little bits of what happened."

"Well, what can you remember the best? Start with the beginning of your date with Mike."

"Ok, I remember you coming over after school and doing my hair and makeup. I got in the car with Mike, we went to see a movie, and he made me pay for my ticket, and after the movie we went to eat, I can't remember where, but I paid for that too. I remember walking out of the restaurant and Mike pulled me into an alley or whatever and pretty much attacked me . . ." The more she talked about her date with Mike the more furious I was becoming. How could Mike be such a jerk to Bella?

"After I told him no, we went back to his car because I had apparently ruined his day. We started driving me home, and that's when he undid my seatbelt, and I started to get worried, and . . ." Her face got tense, and tears welled in her beautiful brown eyes.

"Bella, what do you remember after that?"

"He died didn't he?" Her eyes searched for an answer in mine, Alice's and even Jasper's eyes. We all knew the answer but no one had the heart to tell her.

"Bella," Alice started to say something but couldn't finish.

"He died," she was full out crying now, and all I knew to do was sit with her and hold her to my chest while she cried.

It went on like this for a few hours, till I finally, noticing the time, decided to let Bella know about the ceremony in a little bit.

"Bella, I know you're really upset, but I wanted to tell you about the ceremony for Mike. It's a candlelight ceremony in the gym at school, I want to take you, is that ok."

Her face was completely blank, she wasn't crying at the moment but it usually came in waves. She didn't say anything; she just nodded, got up, grabbed her crutches and went to her room.

No more than five minutes later, she reappeared in sweat pants that didn't cover her cast, and a black hoodie, maybe not what she would have worn under different circumstances, but considering her current state, I don't think it could be avoided.

I helped her once again into Carlisle's car, and we were headed for the school. I wasn't sure how Bella would react, and I was a little nervous myself, not knowing how I would react.

When we pulled up to the school, the parking lot was packed. Bella and I made our way to the gym, her on her crutches, and me walking beside her, wishing with every step that I could hold her hand.

The gym was unnervingly quiet, something I was not used to. The only time the gym was quiet was when it was empty. And today, the gym was full, full of people morning the loss of a student and a friend.

Bella and I found a spot on the floor near the middle of the gym; we were sitting directly in front of the table that had been set up for Mike. On the table was Mike's jersey, a football in a glass case, signed by everyone on the football team, and other things of Mike's, like his helmet, some school project that we had turned in recently, and last, a candle.

When everyone arrived, our principle came out to talk to us.

"I know probably better than most people what it feels like to lose a friend, I know that there is no easy way to deal with it and questions go unanswered. I'd like Mike's coach to come out and talk for a little."

Our football coach came out and did the whole pep talk type speech, letting us know that it was ok to grieve, and that it was natural to feel bitter. Surprisingly, he did a pretty good job, his speech was moving.

**BPOV**

I couldn't stop crying. This was the worst thing that had ever happened in my life. I had known two people in my entire life that had died, my great uncle who I'd never met and didn't know about until we were driving cross country to see his funeral, and then my God father, who had died of natural causes, in his old age, which was in my opinion, the way to go. Those funerals had been celebrations, and although I was sad that they were gone, it was nothing to the heart breaking suffering I, and many others, were going through listening to pastor after pastor talk about Mike's life.

Mike had been a sophomore in high school. He would never be able to graduate, go to college, get married, and have children. He would never be able to sit on his porch, and old man, hold the hand of the woman he loved, and live a peaceful and long life. He just wouldn't. Because he was sixteen, and dead.

Sixteen . . .

I cried again.

I knew me and Mike hadn't been all that close, but he was someone my age, who had died suddenly and tragically. This was terrible, no one was supposed to die that way, not like that, not that young. People were supposed get older, have a great life, and die knowing they had accomplished something with their time on earth.

No one was talking now, the lights in the gym were going out, and the sad music had begun again. A candle was being passed around the circle everyone had formed around the gym, and around the table of Mike's things in the middle. As the candle was passed around, everyone lit the candles in their hands.

When all the candles were lit, we began to sing along to the music, some songs only a few people knew, others everyone could join in. By the end, everyone had their candles raised in the air, like a salute to Mike's memory.

**EPOV**

At the end of the ceremony, Bella was greeted by most of the student body and then the faculty. I was glad people weren't angry with her; they weren't blaming her for the accident. They just wanted to hug her and tell her they were glad she was ok. Bella talked to everyone, gave everyone a hug, cried on everyone's shoulders, and grieved with Mike's friends.

When it was finally time to leave, she told me there was one thing she still had to do. I understood, and obliged. We stopped at the convenience store and picked up some flowers.

I drove her to the only cemetery in Forks, she got out by herself, and I knew it wasn't my place to follow, this was her turn to say her own goodbye to Mike, and she needed to be alone for it.

On her crutches, carrying her flowers, she made her way to where I had pointed out Mike's tombstone to her. She stood by it for a few minutes, I'm not sure if she was talking to Mike, or just giving herself a moment to collect her thoughts after the ceremony. She eventually made her way back to the car, got back in, and I took her home. Never wanting to have to go through this again.

* * *

I know all too well what Bella is going through, I recently lost a good friend of mine but he was someone much closer to me than Mike was to Bella.

It happened with a lot more tears and a lot more fucking hatred to all things automotive.

No one deserves to die before their life has a chance to begin.

And I find myself questioning God like I never have before; he takes the lives of the wrong people, at the wrong time, for no reason at all. I know in time I'll forgive him, but now with the wounds so fresh, and the constant reminder with my friend's grave to look at every day on the way to and from school, I just can't yet.

I'm sorry it's another sad chapter, I'm honestly surprised after the weekend I had that I am in fact writing, I didn't think I'd be able to function for a while. But here I am, moving forward as best as I can.

Happiness in my story is just around the corner, I promise.

This and everything else I do and accomplish is dedicated to you Kody, I love you and I miss the shit out of you.


	12. Chapter 12: Sleep Over's and Wet Dreams

I'm sorry about last chapter, still feeling a bit forsaken.

I hate myself for that last chapter, almost as much as I hate that last chapter.

Here's a fresh start.

* * *

Chapter 12: Sleep Over's and _Wet_ Dreams

**EPOV**

Pacing . . .

Pacing . . .

Pacing . . .

Yes, it was 2:30 in the morning, and yes, I should have been sleeping, or if nothing else, doing something productive, like writing my memoirs or curing cancer.

But no, I couldn't sleep, not when I was so worried about Bella, thinking about her, wondering if she was sleeping, or if she was awake and thinking about Mike, or anything else.

I was tempted to call her, but then thought better of it, if she was asleep, I didn't want to wake her up. But if she was awake, I wanted to keep her company. The thing was, I didn't know.

So I had resigned myself to pacing.

Hours I had been at this, mostly just around my room, but sometimes I would venture out into the hall, and down stairs to the kitchen. I'd walk by Emmett's room and hear him snoring. Then creep up to Carlisle's room. Never would I do it again, Esme was over. Oh the horrors of them together, in a dark room, with the door shut . . . Put the pieces together for yourself.

But if Esme was here, then Alice was at her house all alone. She was a big ball of energy, so I didn't think she would mind too much if I popped up in her room at 3 am.

I jacked the keys to Carlisle's car from the rack on the wall, his car, thank the lord, was quiet when it started, so no Carlisle running out the door to see who was stealing his car.

Alice was a mere ten miles or so from my own place, and took a good, five minutes to make it to her house.

We were pretty much family already, so I had a key to her house, just as she had a key to mine. Not that it mattered much since I knew where they kept their spare key.

I crept up to her house, hoping she had no nosy neighbors that would end up calling the cops on me thinking I was a stalker.

I slipped my key into the lock, turned it, unlocked the door, and opened it.

Alice's room was the down the hall, second door on the left. I knew this house so well; I could make myself a sandwich with my eyes closed.

I didn't bother knocking; she was more than likely asleep. Just as I had expected, she was. Sound asleep, under frilly pink blankets, in a sunshiny yellow room. Posters of bands, movies, and other popular things were plastered to her wall, along with a giant memory board filled with tons of pictures of her with her mom, with her dad and step family, with my family, and with all her friends.

Not caring that Alice might claw my eyes out, I jumped on her bed.

She shot up into a sitting position, and started screaming, I covered her mouth, but not before she let out an earth shattering shriek.

Her eyes were wide, but when hers finally met mine recognition dawned in her sleepy face and she relaxed her tense position.

"What the hell Edward? What time is it anyway?" I didn't blame her for being angry; I more than likely would have killed someone if they had jumped me in the middle of the night.

"I want to go see Bella, I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me? Oh, and it's about three in the morning."

"Sure, can I have coffee please?"

Alice was pretty much game for anything. Anything that involved sneaking around, shopping, Bella, or shopping, Bella and now apparently Jasper, and shopping. Alice has an unnatural obsession with shopping, a very scary and unnatural obsession.

"Yes of course Alice, you can have some coffee."

So that was it, Alice was awake and now we were sitting in her kitchen making coffee for the both of us. I didn't really need it, but it was something for my hands to hold while I wasn't near enough to Bella.

"So, Mr. Cullen why this sudden interest in Miss Swan this fine night?"

I wasn't sure what to tell her, and lying to Alice was pretty hard, she was one of those people that can read a person like a book, so, keeping with the tone of things, I gave her the truth.

"Well, Miss Brandon, I miss her quite simply, and I would like to know how she's doing. I know the hour is late, but I just couldn't bring myself to wait another couple of hours to call on her."

"Sounds good to me, are you ready to hit the road?" The grin on her face was contagious, and I sat there nodding and grinning like a mother fucker.

We drove Carlisle's car to Bella's house, Alice's bright yellow Porsche might have been a little suspicious. At least Carlisle's Mercedes was black.

Bella's house sat on two roads, a road in front of her house, and then one in the back of her house; we parked in the back so as to be as inconspicuous as possible.

"Alice, which room is hers?" Never having been in her room, the only place I had seen was her living room. I would kill myself if I knocked on Mr. and Mrs. Swan's window. I don't know how in the world I would explain that. _Um hi Mr. Swan, I was just going for a stroll at three am and decided to drop in and say hello to you and your lovely wife_. Yeah, that would be perfect.

"It's in the front of the house, the third window from the front door."

Oh that was just great, right in the front, where all her neighbors could see while we broke into Bella's room.

Of course, how many people in the city of Forks stayed up past nine o'clock? It was three in the morning, what deranged person, besides Alice and myself, would be up? And staring out their window into Bella's yard? No one! I hoped . . .

We made our way around the house and to what I hoped and prayed to God was Bella's window, and knocked, silently at first; I didn't want Bella to be scared. When we didn't hear anything, I started to get scared.

Then Alice whipped out her cell phone, held up one finger to me, and called Bella. Yeah, why didn't I think of that?

I could hear Bella's phone going off in her room, this gave me some comfort, at least I knew now we had the right street, house, room, window . . .

I heard Bella answer her phone and give Alice a sleepy 'hello?'

"Bella, me and Edward are like, right outside your window, let us in! We tried knocking, but you didn't answer, so I just decided to call you." She laughed her little pixie laugh and hung up the phone, then she looked at me and she was smiling again.

"She's coming. We're going to have to climb through the window though; the front door is pretty noisy, especially in the dead of night."

I had no problem with that, I was about to sneak into Bella's room, and even though we wouldn't be alone, it would still be pretty fucking amazing. Just to be near to her, and without her parents' permission, this sent a rush through me. I was by no means the 'bad boy' but I, like many, was a thrill seeker. Things like this just made my life better.

Bella's sleepy head finally made an appearance at the window; my jaw almost fell to the ground when I saw what she was wearing, a tank top, and teeny tiny little shorts. My heart started beating faster and faster.

She opened up her curtains and unlocked and lifted the window. Her windows didn't have a frame, which made the entire situation 10,000 times easier. Now I didn't have to worry about ripping her screen apart trying to claw my way in.

She made room for Alice and I as I lifted Alice onto the window sill. She bent over double to get her head and left leg in first, and then she swung the other one in, and hopped to the floor.

It was a little more difficult for me, thank goodness I was tall or this would be impossibly. I finally just decided to do as Alice had done. Left leg first, I bent over and got my head in, my leg found the floor and I stumbled my way in the rest of the way.

Once Alice and Bella finished giggling at me, they both fell back onto Bella's bed, feeling just a bit awkward; I sat on the edge wondering what the proper etiquette for this situation.

"Edward, come on, I won't bite . . . Too much anyway." Bella said, patting the space on the bed beside her while a beautiful smile played across her lips.

The thought of her lips so close to my skin sent chills down me, good chills. I almost wanted her to bite me. What the hell, I really wanted her to bite me.

So, I laid down, in Bella's bed, right next to her. Alice was on the other side of her, making a Bella sandwich, one I really enjoyed.

We talked, we laughed, and we had a great time, just hanging out together. There was no pressure to fill any of the silences. It was never awkward being around Bella, it helped that Alice was nearby. When it was around four in the morning, Alice decided to go crawl into bed with Jasper; I whole heartedly encouraged her to do so.

When Alice left, Bella looked at me and mouthed 'Alice and Jasper'? I realized, no one had told her. I just assumed she had already known, with Alice being her best friend and Jasper being her brother.

I nodded, confirming her suspicions.

She gasped, "Since when?"

"I'm not all that sure, I found out the first night you were in ICU, they came in and Alice was sitting in his lap all night."

"But, how could she not tell me? This is insane, how could Jasper not tell me? There dating!"

I wasn't sure what to say, so I just pretended to find the situation amusing, while really all I could do was stare at her lovely face, and wish she was mine.

After I got over the initial shock, I started to notice the small things about Bella. She had a tiny scar on her upper lip, her eyes weren't just brown, they were the color of melted chocolate, her hair was brown, but she had natural red highlights. It was nice to see past the first glance Bella, to see who she really was.

She wasn't wearing any makeup, her hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail, she was wearing pajamas, and she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life.

No surprise, around five Alice and Jasper joined us in Bella's room. Bella was starting to get a little worried, her parents usually got up and started to get ready for work about this time, and Alice and I would need to leave. That was a good idea, since I had stolen Carlisle's car and Esme didn't know Alice was out.

Not wanting anyone to panic, we all said our goodbyes, some more than others . . .

Alice and I once again made our way as gracefully as possible out the window and crept noiselessly across the Swan's lawn. Back in Carlisle's car, Alice turned sideways in her seat to see me, and laid it out.

"So, how much do you like Bella?"

"Who says I like her?" Yeah, good one Cullen.

"Everything about you says you like her, now spill, how long?"

"Well, I guess since the first day."

"Good answer, what do you like about her?" I felt like I was on a game show or something, playing twenty questions.

"I like how easy it is to talk to her, but how hard it is to get myself to talk to her."

"Another good answer, you obviously care, you wouldn't have killed yourself to stay by her side while she was in the hospital if you didn't." This was true, if it was any other girl in our school, with the exception of Alice, I wouldn't have even bothered. "Do you think she's hot?"

This was the worst of the questions.

"Not at all, she's the most beautiful girl I've ever met. Even how she was tonight, she's just amazing."

Alice beamed at me; apparently I had answered all of her questions appropriately.

"So, does Bella know that you like her?" She got me now, I don't know why it was so hard for me to just spill it to Bella, if I could just get the words out of my mouth and ask her out she would more than likely say yes, and all would be well. For some unknown reason, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"No, she doesn't know. Not yet anyway."

"Do you want me to set you guys up?" She was getting excited now, and I was getting scared, Alice excited was bad most of the time.

"No Alice, let me do it on my own."

"Oh fine, take the fun out of everything."

We were back at Alice's house, Esme wasn't home yet, which meant she hadn't left my house yet, and I had a chance of getting Carlisle's car back to him on time.

I said goodbye to Alice, and thanked her for being my partner in crime. Surprisingly she was the one to suggest that we do it again tomorrow night, I liked that idea, and told her to call Bella and see if it was alright with her.

--

After sleeping for several hours into the afternoon, I got a call from Alice saying that Bella was nothing short of thrilled to be repeating the previous night.

At this point I was trying to get my game face on, tonight was going to be the night I asked Bella out, I could do it, I just had to be a little more confident then I had been lately.

Around midnight, Bella called Alice to tell her that her parents had been asleep for a few hours, and it was safe to come over. This time Alice took her car and came and picked me up. It was too much of a risk to keep taking Carlisle's car everywhere, eventually he would notice, we would get caught, and who knew what kind of trouble any of us would get in.

The night went pretty much the same as the last, we parked in the back, climbed through Bella's window, Alice stuck around with us for a little while, then went off to spend some time with Jasper and Bella and I were alone.

This time, we were lying down underneath her covers, and my arm was wrapped around her. I was twirling a strand of her hair around one of my fingers, trying to force the words I was determined to say out of my mouth.

"Bella, I was wondering . . ."

I looked down at her, she was sound asleep.

--

Alice and I decided that to show up for a third time, might be a bad idea, neither of us wanted to push our luck and get caught.

So we stayed in our respected homes, sleeping in our beds tonight. I wished I was with Bella still.

My phone rang at about one in the morning; I looked down at the caller ID and cursed myself for ever giving Alice Brandon my number.

"What the hell is so important at one in the morning that you have to call me?"

"Go to your balcony." Surprisingly it was Bella's voice that came from Alice's number, and I regretted cussing, I didn't want Bella to think of me that way, so I made a mental note to try and stop that.

I got up, threw some pants on, and went to open the window.

**BPOV**

After the previous nights of being with Edward, I felt insanely lonely, and I wanted him back. So I decided to take the situation into my own hands and I called Alice, yeah, I know . . . Famous last words.

Alice agreed, we needed to do something fun tonight, so we decided to kidnap Edward.

When we got there, Alice was hard at work trying to pick the lock to Edward's balcony door lock. Silly girl. I grabbed the phone that was in her pocket and dialed Edwards's number; it would be so much easier if he just unlocked the door.

It was.

The door flung open, and Alice shot me a dirty glare.

"How are we going to ambush and kidnap him if he's already aware that were here?"

I didn't care; the only that mattered was Edward, standing shirtless in front of me.

My brain refused to function, but Alice grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me inside.

We all plopped down on Edwards all too familiar bed and got comfortable.

After a few minutes, Alice got this crazy expression on her face, and leaned into Edward and whispered something in his ear. Edward got the same crazy expression on his face, nodded, and got up.

Alice motioned for me to follow him. We went out into the hallway, down the stairs and into what I assumed was Emmett's room, since Emmett was in there, and snoring away.

Edward walked right up to him, and started shaking him. He didn't respond at all, just kept snoring like a bear.

After several minutes, and even more failed attempts at waking the sleeping grizzly, Edward ran out of the room while Alice and I stood there.

He came back a little bit later carrying a bucket filled with water. An evil grin on his lips he threw the water right into Emmett's sleeping face.

This worked, Emmett shot up in bed, but by some stretch of luck didn't yell. He did however look like he was about to rip apart Edward one body part at a time.

Edward just stood there, wearing the same crazy grin as before.

"Get up, were going human hunting."

* * *

Whew, I like this chapter, and where it's going.

I hope everyone forgives me for the last chapter, everyone goes through rough spots.

Reviews are as lovely as throwing a bucket of water on Emmett while he snores like a bear.

:)


	13. Chapter 13: Misplaced Emotions

I'm making a playlist :]

I'll start working on it after this chapter. It should be up tomorrow.

Enjoy my loves.

* * *

Chapter 13: Misplaced Emotions

**EPOV**

"Are the guns loaded?" Emmett asked with a grin to match mine

"No, I don't know where you put them from last time!" I said, a little impatient for him to get his lazy ass out of bed so we could get this little trip going.

He hopped up, shooed us out of his room, and we started walking back to my room, waiting on Emmett's ass to get ready. I jumped up on my bed and patted the spot beside me for Bella, but instead Alice jumped up into my lap. God, sometimes that girl was just a little too outgoing.

Bella smirked and looked away. I decided now was a good time to put Alice in her place, and show Bella she belonged in my lap, not Alice.

"Alice, I know you enjoy sitting on strange men's laps, but, I do believe I was inviting Bella to join me, not you." It wasn't meant to embarrass Alice, which it surely wouldn't. Bella would feel more awkward about it then Alice that was just her way.

Alice hopped up, with the help of my hands on her back, and Bella came and sat next to me. She sat close enough that we were touching, but that just wasn't close enough, not tonight. So I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into my lap. God, that felt good, to have her this close, finally.

She giggled like a little girl, and I'm not going to lie, I thought it was pretty sexy. I wrapped my arms around her waist, and I was about to turn her around and kiss her, with Alice as my witness, when Emmett barged in, guns blazing.

Alice was all too fucking excited. I mean, I know this sport was fun, but, come on! I had Bella sitting in my lap. She didn't immediately get up, which was a good sign on my part, but I knew the others were waiting, so I stood up, still holding Bella as close to me as possible.

I had my arm wrapped around her as we made our way out my balcony door, down the trellis, and to Emmett's jeep. We knew the roar of his jeep would wake Carlisle, so with Bella and Alice sitting in it steering, Emmett and I pushed it up the driveway and far enough away from the house Carlisle wouldn't hear.

Again, even though we were sitting in a car, I pulled Bella back into my lap; it just felt so empty without her.

"Edward," she said in the sweetest whisper ever, "where are we going?"

"To a little clearing about fifteen miles out of Forks, it won't take long, even with Emmett driving, about twenty minutes or so."

She nodded sleepily and yawned, stifling it with the back of her hand. She was tired, that was obvious, and who wouldn't be? No one but Emmett had slept in the last three or four days. So I massaged her back, and ran my other hand through her hair, she quickly drifted off into a peaceful sleep on my shoulder.

Sooner than I wanted, we arrived at the clearing that, as far as I knew, we were the only ones who knew about it. I shook Bella as gently as possible, rubbing my hand on her cheek to wake her up slowly.

She looked up, smiled, and hopped out of Emmett's jeep.

"I just want to know what we're doing!" She exclaimed when I gave her a puzzling look.

"Well, you'll find out soon enough." I assured her.

Emmett came around from the back, and held out four paintball guns and some thick vests for Alice and Bella.

Bella looked a little worried.

"I've never gone paintballing." She explained. Simple enough, you have a gun, filled with paintballs; you split into teams and shoot the people that aren't on your team.

"Don't worry Bella; you can be on my team!" Emmett exclaimed all to fucking enthusiastically. That shit would not work, Bella was supposed to be with me, what the hell was Emmett doing?

"Well, jee thanks Emmett," Bella said, a little confused. I was just as confused as her.

Bella took the heavy padded vest Emmett had brought her, zipping it all the way up. Although I knew the vest would do her a lot of good, her arms were still unprotected, and those paintballs stung like a mother fucker. So I did what I could, I pulled off my hoodie, leaving my upper half completely naked, it would be worth it if Bella came out of this without pain.

I handed Bella my sweatshirt and she blushed, the red creeping into her cheeks faster than normal. She hid her face quickly in my hoodie, and when she reappeared she seemed to have a little more control.

She looked much more amazing than I thought possible as she stood in front of me, all of her 5'2'' body, in pajama shorts and my hoodie, holding a paintball gun.

We split into teams, Emmett and Bella against Alice and I. Emmett was a bastard, but at least Alice would help me kill him.

We decided on ten minutes, ten minutes to run into the woods surrounding the clearing, and hide. When time was up we would all yell time. So no one could isolate the single voice.

Alice and I had decided to climb into some trees for a better view of our playing field. It probably would have been a great strategy except for the fact that it was pitch fucking black outside. Something none of us had taken into consideration. But I guess this made the game that much more fun.

Thank God Emmett was a bear, he was always found easily, dark or not. He thundered around like an idiot when it came to sneaking around, relying on sheer strength instead of stealth. Alice and I knew better.

Once we had located Emmett, I gave Alice strict instructions to only shoot Emmett; I didn't want Bella getting hurt more than she had too. To win we only had to shoot one of their team members. Might as well make it Emmett. So when I gave the signal, Alice and I fired away. It was, in my opinion, epic.

Emmett fell to the ground theatrically, writhing in imaginary pain, cursing the day he ever taught me how to shoot a paintball gun.

"Since we beat you this round, I get to choose my partner, Bella? Would you join me please?"

She smiled like I hoped she would, and stumbled her way to stand next to me. I reached down and held her hand, keeping her as close as possible. She looked down and smiled at the ground. We set our watches for ten minutes again, and started running.

Bella was as clumsy as an old woman without a cane.

"How in the world did you get anywhere with Emmett?" I hoped I wasn't hurting her feelings, but really.

"He sort of carried me the whole way." Way to go Edward, you could have thought of that earlier.

In a split second, she was on my back and I was sprinting through the woods like I should have been earlier. I was trying to get her to a specific place where not even Alice knew about. Somewhere Bella and I could be alone for more than a few moments. Somewhere I might be brave enough to have my first kiss with her.

We made it, it not too much time either. It was a huge hollow of a tree; I crawled in first, and then turned around to help Bella in. It was a tight fit, which meant Bella was once again sitting in my lap, just the way I liked it.

She giggled that little girl giggle again. In return I gave her a crooked smile and wrapped my arms around her securely, never wanting to let her go.

We sat like this for the remainder of the ten minutes, just sort of laughing quietly to ourselves.

When the ten minutes was up, we decided not to yell, we didn't hear Alice or Emmett either, so we were either so far out we could hear them, or they had decided the same thing.

After the first fifteen minutes of uninterrupted silence, we decided to chance it and have a quiet conversation. We talked about our lives, and school, and what it was like for me growing up in Forks, and for her growing up in Arizona. There was a lot of laughing and joking, and after an entire hour had passed we decided we had made them wait long enough.

So we got up, Bella leaving first, and me after. The second I had straightened up Emmett jumped out from behind a tree and started shooting. I practically jumped on top of Bella, smashing her to the forest floor, crushing her beneath me, but also making sure she was safe.

I lay on top of her while Emmett and Alice shot at my bare back. It hurt like fucking hell, but Bella was safe, and to me, that was all that mattered.

When the paint balls finished flying, I looked up to see Emmett doubled over in laughter, and Alice slapping the back of his head to make him shut up.

"Dude," he wheezed out in between his fits of laughter, "do you know how long we've been waiting for you to come out of there? I thought you two were just gonna stay in there all night."

Come to think of it, that wouldn't be such a bad idea.

I finally decided to get off of Bella, well not so much decided, more like she poked me in the chest and reminded me it wasn't all that easy to breathe with me on top of her.

We decided on one more round before we called it quits and headed back home. Emmett and I against Bella and Alice. This would not be easy.

We split up for the last time, I waved a goodbye to Bella and pretended to cry, she came over and gave me a hug, and whispered a reassuring 'I'll see you soon' in my ear.

The round didn't take long; Emmett and I decided to be un-sportsman like and follow the girls, they had an unfair advantage anyway. Alice became invisible when it came to things like this, and Emmett had strict instructions not to shoot Bella.

When they settled down in a large rose bush, we hid behind a clump of trees and waited for our ten minutes to be up. When it was, we jumped out and attached the bush. Alice shot Emmett and Bella shot me, but not before Emmett's gun went off and shot Bella in the neck. Of course, the most unprotected part of her body apart from her face.

She dropped her gun and clutched her hands to her throat, tears welling up in her eyes and spilling over.

"Emmett, I'm going to kill you." I tried my hardest to pry Bella's hands away from her neck so I could see the extent of the damage. Apart from the blood, it didn't look to bad, it didn't go very deep thankfully, but I know that had to hurt like hell. The ones on my back still stung like a fucker.

"Bella, other than the blood I think you're ok." I tried to look down at her with reassuring look on my face.

"Blood?" Was all she got out before her eyes rolled back into her head and her body went limp as it hit the forest ground.

"I forgot to mention something" Alice chirped in her anxious pixie voice, "Bella faints at the smell of blood, especially her own."

"Obviously," I spat at her sarcastically.

I picked her up in my arms and started heading in the direction of Emmett's jeep. Not knowing exactly where it was I had to wait for Emmett to catch up and lead the way.

It wasn't until we were almost back at the house that Bella woke up, a little dazed and confused, but perfectly healthy.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy, but I'll be ok. Is the blood gone?"

"Sure is, you don't think I'd let you wake up just to pass out again did you?" I tried to joke with her as much as possible on the way home to keep her happy.

When we finally did get home, I lifted her out of the jeep and followed her closely as she climbed the trellis, and swung herself over the railing of my balcony.

It wasn't until I had gotten into my room that I remembered I was covered in paint and shirtless. I grabbed Bella's hand and brought her to the bathroom. I wasn't yet ready to say goodbye.

"Will you give me a hand washing all the paint off of my back?" I asked just a little bit timidly.

"Of course," she whispered.

She got a wash cloth, soaked it under the running facet while the water got warm, and then ever so gently began to wash away the paint. It felt good until her hand brushed up against one of the welts on my back and made me jump.

I hadn't meant to scare her, but I had. And she had this expression on her face like she had just told me she killed my puppy or something.

I cupped her chin in my hand and kissed her forehead. An instinct reaction I couldn't have controlled if I had wanted too, but at this point I didn't want to control it. I turned back around while she blushed. She began cleaning the paint off of my back again, but once she was done she did something I hadn't expected.

She bent down and kissed everywhere I had been hit. Every single bump and bruise I had gained from tonight. If this was my reward, I would go paintballing every night.

I decided now was as good a time as any, I turned to face her, picking her up in my arms and placing her on the countertop.

I held her face in between my hands and pulled her face closer to mine, searching her eyes for permission. When it was granted, I closed the distance between us and my lips met hers.

I was momentarily crushed, I didn't feel anything, no spark or fireworks like everyone promised there would be when you kissed the love of your life.

So I pulled back, Bella looked confused, I hesitated for a fraction of a second before trying again.

Once again, I felt . . . Nothing.

* * *

I promise you this is not the end of Edward and Bella, it just might have been a bit to early for romance.

I'll be a little more distracted than usual, I've started a new story :] The first chapter should be up in the next couple of days.

I won't loose sight of this one, it's just, when I get a shot of inspiration I have to write it down or I'll loose it, and I like the story I'm about to write way too much to loose it.

It's called: 'A Touch of Death'

Look for it soon!

But while you're waiting, review this chapter!


	14. Chapter 14: Bitch Calls

Um, I'm really sorry it's taken me five years to get this out there, but I'm about to graduate and I have A LOT on my plate right now.

I hope you like this chapter.

It starts off a little rough, but be patient with them, they are young.

* * *

Chapter 14: Bitch Calls, and Thanksgiving Conversations

**EPOV**

How could that be? I hadn't stopped thinking about my kiss with Bella for a good three weeks, and now as I sat on the edge of my bed with my chin resting in my palms, I wondered if I would ever stop thinking of my fuck up.

I hadn't talked to Bella in those three weeks either, choosing to avoid her was definitely the wrong move, but also the safer one, for me anyway. I was hurting Bella, I could see that, I didn't know what else to do though. I couldn't fake feelings for her, in the end that would hurt more than anything.

So I went on with my life, keeping away from Bella so she could continue hers.

**BPOV**

What a jerk, how could I have misread him SO much? Sensitive, caring, heartfelt, bullshit. What made him decide he could walk all over me like that? I hadn't expected him to be one of THOSE types of guys. I guess I was wrong, and I needed to quit ranting about it, and move on with my life. Jessica had of course flipped out when I told her Edward had kissed me, not once but twice. When I told her he hadn't said a word to me since then she calmed down. I apparently was no longer a threat to her.

For all I cared Jessica could rape that mother fucker.

I went on with my life, going from class to class, moving with the crowd, and never lifting my eyes to see who was in front of me. It never used to suck having Edward's locker close to mine, but now it did. I hated bumping into him in the halls, catching his eye in the lunch room, sitting right next to him in computer. It all sucked. The only good thing was I could avoid him for an entire hour right before I went home. But once I got home, I had to walk across his yard to get home. He was always playing basketball outside, but he would usually stop when he heard me walk by and would make up some bullshit excuse about getting water or something to have to go into the house so he didn't have to see me.

He was avoiding me better than I was avoiding him. I was glad, with our combined efforts, we may never have to see or talk to each other for the rest of this year, and my high school years to come. I hadn't wanted it to be like that.

I wanted to date Edward, maybe start off as friends, and as we grew older and gotten to know each other, we could date and one day get married. I knew these were just fantasies, but it was always a happy one that I liked to relive over and over during the boring parts of class.

I guess now that we were over, even though it was before we could start, I would have to find something else to day dream about.

Too bad there wasn't anyone else in Forks I liked all that much, and trust me; I was not a picky person.

By the time I had gotten to school today, it had been exactly thirty seven days since the 'incident' as Alice had decreed we call it. School nowadays was fairly blurry, I just wanted the school year to end, and we were pretty much only about half way in. The weather was changing, getting colder in anticipation for the holidays.

I loved the October to January months, loved the holidays in them, I loved the business of trying to get everything done in time, the last minutes shopping, cooking, and decorating. The way my parents always stressed and complained for weeks on end, only for them to arrive and my parents to finally settle down and enjoy themselves for a bit.

This was also around the time my mom would send me to California to see my dad for about two weeks.

Sure enough, just as I had started thinking about Phil, my mom decided it was time for me to take a trip.

"Bella, it's getting to be that time of the year, the weather gets colder and you see your dad." She always started these conversations with something like that, the whole weather changing thing, like she was really going to fool me into thinking she was talking about the weather instead of my dad.

"Yep, about that time mom. When do you think I should go see Phil?" For some reason she hated it when I called him Phil, but had no problem when I called Charlie 'dad'. She was a strange woman.

"Well, I was thinking you could visit him for Thanksgiving this year, and spend Christmas here in Forks with us, how does that sound?" It sounded pretty good to me; I wish she had moved the date up to tomorrow. I would do anything now to get away from Edward for a bit.

"Sounds great mom, send me whenever you want to get rid of me," I always tried to make a joke about it because it upset my mom when I was gone. I didn't want her to be upset, I mean, it wasn't like I was moving in with him or anything.

"Oh hush, you know I hate when you leave," she shushed me, but she was smiling, so I was a success.

"I better call Phil and let him now," I shot a sideways glance at her.

"Go ahead, let him know when were thinking of sending you, and don't you dare call him Phil on the phone."

I jogged off to my room to find my cell phone, and quickly dialed the number I knew by heart. Or, the number I thought I knew by heart, apparently my fingers had a mind of their own.

"Bella?" Edwards's voices came over my phone, crystal clear, shocked, and with a sexy gravely tone.

I was too surprised that I had accidently called his phone that I didn't say anything, I couldn't talk to him, but he would know something was up if I just hung up without saying something.

So thinking quickly, as quickly as I could, I ran into Jasper's room and started to talk to him.

"Hey Jasper, how was school?"

"Um, fine I suppose, what about yours?"

"Oh, you know the same. Snobby people that think there better than you. Mom told me I get to go see Phil soon."

"That's cool, have you called him lately?" Way to go Jasper! This was perfect.

"No, I think I'll do that now," I pulled my phone out of my pocket and grinned in relief, Edward had already hung up. So I dialed Phil, checking twice to make sure it really was his number.

It rang twice before an unfamiliar woman answered his phone, I was used to this, he was a baseball player for heaven's sake.

"Phil Dwyer please,"

"And who are you?" She said in a bitchy voice.

"I'm Bella, now hand him the phone," I wasn't in the mood for this today; I just wanted to talk to my dad.

"Look bitch, you better quit calling, Phil's mine you got that?"

"Would you just give my _dad_ the phone?"

"Holy shit, he's got a kid? Oh fuck this." And she dropped the phone, or at least I assumed she dropped the phone, I wasn't talking to her anymore, but I was still connected. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Bella, baby?" Phil's voice broke the silence.

"Hey dad, how's it going in California?"

"Slow" he said, "but things might be looking up soon. Whatcha calling for kid?"

"Mom said I can come visit soon, sometime around Thanksgiving, how does that sound?"

"That sounds absolutely perfect kid, how long can you stay for?"

"Well we have two weeks off for Thanksgiving, so two weeks?" I always said it like it was a question, Phil always liked having me over, and always cursed school when it was time for me to go home.

"Only two weeks?" He whined, I laughed, typical Phil, big baby.

"Yeah, sorry dad, only two weeks, it's better than last time, I only had eight days then." I reminded him.

"That's true, well if you teach me one thing, it to appreciate the things I've got."

"Speaking of things you've got, who was the floozy?"

He burst into laughter, and didn't stop laughing for a few minutes.

"That 'floozy' as you refer to her as, is, or at least was, my house keeper, she thinks I'm in love with her poor girl."

Our conversation went on for hours; I always forget how much fun I have talking to Phil. When it was finally time to get off the phone he made me a promise to be at the airport this year to pick me up, I smiled remembering that one time his manager was there to pick me up instead.

I told him I love him, and hung up the phone. When I looked down at it, I had a text message, thinking it was from Alice or Jessica I ignored it for now, and went to do my homework.

Around midnight, I decided it was time to hit the sack, remembering the text message I had previously ignored, I opened my phone and was surprised to see it was from Edward.

_Why the call?_

Tired of being rude to him and ignoring him, I decided to text him back.

_Sorry about that, I was trying to call my dad._

After I sent it, I gasped, I had forgotten it was the middle of the night and quickly sent him another text.

_Shit, sorry forgot it was so late._

But before I could send it, I had a new one from him.

_Oh, well, sorry to bother you._

This was odd, he could have just not texted back, accepting my explanation, and moving on. But instead me texted back, which meant he wanted to keep talking.

_Not a problem, what are you doing up this late?_

**EPOV**

I was so excited when my phone rang and it was Bella. It must have been aftershock feelings or some shit, because I shouldn't have been that happy to get a call from a girl I didn't have feelings for.

But I answered, "Bella?" I was surprised at the sound of my own voice, but waited anxiously for her to say something. She never did, but I kept waiting. Then I heard her talking, but she wasn't talking to me, she was talking to Jasper, so I decided to just give up and I snapped my phone shut, harder than I probably needed to.

Two hours later I was still thinking about her call, even though you could barely call it that. I kept thinking, we hadn't talked on the phone in over a month. There was no way my number was on her list of recently called. So she must have dialed my number on purpose.

When at last the curiosity was literally eating away at my life, I decided to text her, nothing major, not like a call just a simple text, asking for a simple explanation.

When it was sent, I waited, and I waited. I kept waiting. It took her over an hour to finally text me back.

It figures, she had been trying to call someone else. But that didn't make sense. If she had been trying to call her dad, would she have just hung up and tried again? She would have known she had gotten the wrong number. I decided to ignore it momentarily.

I texted back, trying desperately to keep the conversation going for some reason, I couldn't really understand the urgency I was feeling, the need to communicate with her somehow.

_Not a problem, what are you doing up this late?_

Well, I couldn't be honest, that would go over so well, '_Oh, you know, pacing, waiting for you to text me back, that's all.'_

So instead,

_Just catching up on some homework, what about you?_

Was I lame or what? Homework, like she would believe that, I should have thought of something more realistic. But before I could ponder long,

_Oh that's cool. Homework, talking to my dad, more homework, lol._

This was going nowhere fast, but I couldn't stop texting her now.

It went on like this till three in the morning, just texting back, back and forth, it was a little strange, but oddly peaceful. Knowing we were both doing the same thing, dozing off as we talked to each other. I really liked it.

I fell asleep thinking about something Bella had said that night, I had told her that I had been feeling sad and confused lately, and she told me to smile anyway, because I look sexy when I flash my crooked smile, I told her I was all out of smiles for this month, and then she told me she would give me one of hers tomorrow at school.

I drifted off to sleep peacefully after that.

The next morning I was anxious to be out the door and to get to school. I really wanted to see Bella's smile.

When I got there, she hadn't arrived yet. I waited, and waited. Then Alice walked in and she was holding an envelope. She headed straight towards me, with a sad smile she handed me the envelope.

I quickly took it from her, and opened it up, not caring who was sitting near me.

The first thing I pulled out was a letter, in Bella's handwriting.

_I'm sorry, but I can't go to school today, I got sick sometime between texting you and waking up. So the best I can do is this, (this is when you grab the other piece of paper) I hope you like it._

I pulled the second sheet of paper out; it was a beautiful sketch of a little girl, a little girl with a big smile. One that looked amazingly familiar, it was Bella's smile. I flipped it over, on the back was written Bella's name, the date she had drawn it, and a description. I was right, it was Bella, but at the age of seven.

Who knew Bella had such talent.

School went by slowly, I felt guilty the whole time, trying to think of ways to make it up to Bella for getting her sick, though I knew it wasn't actually my fault, I felt a little responsible.

Near the end of gym, I had the perfect plan. I just had to execute it.

I drove to the store, picked up the things I needed, and headed for Bella's house.

**BPOV**

It was about four in the afternoon, I was half asleep in my bed with the TV going, a mountain of tissues beside me on the floor. I was snapped out of my nap when I heard the front door open and close. No one came to see me, so I assumed it was my parents coming home from work early, until about five minutes later, when a knock came from the other side of my door.

I coughed out a raspy 'come in' and to my surprise Edward opened the door and came in, holding a tray.

He set the tray on my lap, and bent down to gauge my reaction.

He had brought me chicken noodle soup.

* * *

I wish Edward would bring me soup!

Be sure to review :]

Oh, first chapter of 'A Touch Of Death' has been posted, GO READ IT!

It's got Darkward/Bad ass Edward in it.

Well not yet, he hasn't been introduced yet, but he will be soon :]


	15. Chapter 15: Water Works and Wild Flowers

YES, CHAPTER 15! After what? Like two years? Soo sorry everybody, it's been a hell of a journey. Graduations, funerals, new life, cancer, engagements (mine) moving, a hectic time. Again, I'M SO FUCKING SORRY. But here it is. Enjoy =)

P.S. This chapter is TOTALLY unedited. Sorry.

* * *

Chapter 15 - Water Works and Wild Flowers

**BPOV**

"What did I tell you?"

"I like it, but I must say, your manager picking me up and trying to entertain me was quite amusing last year."

Phil and I laughed together. It went on like this for the entire two weeks. It was so great to see him again, I really needed to spend more than just one holiday with my dad. As much as I loved it, I was ready to be home, in Forks. What a concept. The time away from Edward was refreshing and painful. Here I didn't have to think about him, worry about him, constantly question his actions. Again, refreshing.

I hated how the time with Phil flew by. I went with him to practice, out to dinner, shopping, movies, we cooked dinner, had long conversations and before too long I was getting back on the plane to Forks.

We said our second goodbye at the airport and before I knew it, California was gone. The closer I got to Washington, the more I felt like something was pulling me back.

The plane touched down and the overwhelming sense of being home hit me. Jasper and Alice were there to pick me and it was great to see there faces. Something about the way Alice bounced and the malicious twinkle in her eye told me she had plenty to tell me.

"Edward just can not stop talking about, just about drove me crazy the whole time you were gone! _Have you talked to her? Do you know when she's coming back? Like the exact time? You gotta tell me something, call her!_ I swear, the boy's nuts about you." She looked pleased with herself.

"Yeah, well he's also nuts. Remember? Who's the one being ignored? Yeah, me."

"I think my sperm count is going down just by listening to you two," Jasper interrupted, "We need to get home so I can do something manly."

"Jasper, you're about as unmanly as they come," I teased.

"Aw, is my poor wittle baby feeling left out of all the girl talk?" Alice continued.

The playful banter was comforting, but Jasper was right, I wanted to get home.

"Oh sweety it's so good to have you home again! Charlie and I missed you!" My mother, the theatric. I knew she missed me, but she didn't need to bring the water works, like I'd been in Iraq for a year or something.

I eyed Charlie with joking suspicion, "What in the world has she been taking? And why weren't you watching her more carefully?" Everyone laughed, except for my mother, always a second late when it came to my darker sense of humor.

"Okay kiddo, your poor mothers missed you, we'll leave it at that." Charlie said, with a fake, stern look on his face. "The question is, would you like to go home right away? Or would you like to find something to eat first?"

"Oh, definitely eat, I'm starved." Charlie knew me so well, first good food, then the comfort of being home.

The ride to the restaurant was more than pleasant. There was a lot of questions on their part, and lost of stories of Phil and Bella adventures, I always kept the best parts of my trips to myself, sort of like a souvenir, just for Phil and I to share.

Dinner was almost as good as the company, and as much as I was loving the time with the people I loved the most, there was still that odd pull, like a magnet almost. I was anxious to get home, see if the feeling went away. It was like being homesick, but I was already home. I was with my parents, my brother, and my best friend. I knew there was someone I was missing, and I knew who that someone was, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to talkle _him_ yet. Maybe save it for another day.

The magnet like pull got stronger and stronger the closer I got to home, It was like an ache in my chest. I couldn't explain it, I even began to question my sanity. Then it happend.

The feeling got so strong it finally snapped, just as we were pulling into the driveway and my eyes met the familiar face of a boy that had confused, intrigued, and infuriated me. Edward _freakin'_ Cullen stood on my porch, and bouquet of wild flowers in his hand.

**EPOV**

There she was, the second my eyes found hers it was like a weight that had been building the last two weeks was lifted off of me. She was finally home, finally back where I could see she was safe.

She stepped out of the car, watching me timidly. I smiled shyly, trying to communicate through body language how impossibly sorry I was for anything bad that had ever happened between the two of us. I silent plea went up that she would see me as a new person. Or see me at all.

Her parents, Alice and Jasper, after eyeing the situation, went in the house, and thankfully gave us a moment alone.

We were still atleast ten feet away from each other, and neither of us had spoken yet. I wanted to close that distance quickly, but I was too afraid of her rejection. She had every right not pretty much hate my guts at this point. I wouldn't blame her if she did. Even though we had started to reconcile before she left, it was clear when she left that I was not yet forgiven.

"Bella, I.." Stuttering idiot. I'M SORRY! Fucking scream it if you have too jackass. Do it, DO IT!

She didn't say anything, and I wasn't given the chance to try and choke anything else out, Bella walked toward me swiftly and with confidence.

**BPOV**

I don't know what got into me, maybe it was the new magnet in my chest, but I couldn't help myself. I practically flew at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, he dropped the flowers, picking me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he held my face in his hands, and we finally had what I can't even explain accurately.

Everything froze, and then exploded. It was like a kiss that shattered existence. I didn't stop, and neither did he. I couldn't. I didn't want to pull back and see the lack of anything in his eyes. I didn't have the guts to even imagine he didn't feel something this time.

* * *

It's short, seriously lacking. And I couldn't care. I'm so rusty at this point it's disgusting. Oh well.

I'll smoke a cigarette and write a chapter 16 to this =)

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!


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